Scorched Earth
by Fifty Foot Ant
Summary: This story takes place several years after the events following The Cataclysm. The legion has returned once again. Now with an insanely powerful ally to aid them. What will they do to save Azeroth from the Legion and the Old God N'Zoth? Would they be able to save Azeroth?
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

Greetings, reader. This is my very first story. This story happened sometime after the events of Cataclysm, but with a few changes. Such as Arthas remaining as the Lich King. First off, let me clarify some things…

I have never played World of Warcraft. Though I played Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne. So, bear with my mistakes on either the locations or the characteristics of the characters. Please, leave a review. Be it criticism or just a plain suggestion. So, without further ado, here's the story. Enjoy…

_**Prologue**_

Just an average day in Orgrimmar. Orcs working here. Traders in there. Just another normal day.

A large crow is flying overhead. And is heading towards Grommash Hold. The guards near the entrance pay no attention to the crow. The crow landed on its feet, right in front of the guards. When all of a sudden. A green light enveloped the crow and it transformed into a mysterious cloaked man with a wooden staff.

The guards in an instant raised their weapons and pointed them at the cloaked man.

"Identify yourself human!" one of the guards shouted at the man.

"Human? Hahaha… I left my humanity a long time ago. I am… something more." The man said. "My identity is not important at the moment… you must let me pass. I need to talk to your Warchief, Thrall." The man continued while brushing dust off of his cloak.

"The Warchief is currently busy. He's got more important matters to attend to. So, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." One of the guards said.

"I'm afraid I can't do that… This matter is more important than anything else. I must see your Warchief!" Shouted the man. He then removed his hood. His face is wrinkled because of age and he's got a slight beard growing. "You must let me pass!" shouted The Prophet.

"No! The Warchief is not to be disturbed unless your intentions are clear!" The officer of the guards said.

"Well then, tell your Warchief that the Prophet has come… and wishes to see you." Medivh calmly said. "Tell him to meet me at the Mount Hyjal." Then he transformed to a crow again and flew away.

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Meanwhile, in the Violet Citadel in Dalaran…

"-The scourge is on the move. Scouts have reported that they are amassing for something." One of the high ranking mages stated.

"What are you suggesting, Archmage Talia?" Rhonin, the leader of the Kirin Tor asked the woman.

"I suggest we immediately take action and prepare our defenses." The Archmage stated.

"I agree with Archmage Talia here. I say we vote. Raise your hand if you do agree." Said one of the mages. A few voted for a no… Almost all voted to a yes. Just then, a large crow came in through the window then landed on the middle of the room. This surprised most of the mages, as they all sensed tremendous power within him. Rhonin and Jaina didn't seem surprised since they know exactly who he was.

"What brings you here, Great Prophet?" Jaina asked.

"The tides of darkness has returned… Now, more powerful than ever. I'm afraid we have very little time left. Prepare every able person around the whole city for battle. Azeroth will soon turn into a huge battlefield." Warned the Prophet.

"You stated that they are more powerful than ever. May I ask why?" Asked Rhonin.

"Great Archmage, I fear that they have convinced one of the Old Gods to help them. N'Zoth to be exact." Medivh said.

"What!? How is that even possible!? Even the titans are afraid of those things! Yet, the Burning Legion managed to convince one of them to help them to their cause." Jaina said, shocked.

"Perhaps Sargeras is back, he is the only one who's powerful enough to convince those abominations." Rhonin said.

"Yes you are right, Rhonin. I'm going to have to warn Malfurion and the Dragon Aspects. Everyone must be prepared. Do inform King Varian Wrynn with this news. Tell him to prepare all his men for battle." Medivh said as he transformed into a great crow and flew away.

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In Mount Hyjal, battles rage across the forests. Cultists of the Twilight's Hammer and the Night Elves fight valiantly against each other. Neither gaining the upper hand. But the sudden arrival of the Orcs and the current Earth Warder, Thrall, turned the tides to the Night Elves' favor. Up in the mountains, stood a great druid known as Malfurion Stormrage, beside him is his beloved, Tyrande Whisperwind. They both watched the battle below quietly and with a bit of curiousity.

"Why is The Earth Warder here? Did you ask for his help against the Twilight's Hammer?" Tyrande asked.

"No, but I have the same question in my mind my love." Malfurion replied.

The battle continued to rage on. But then, a large crow flew overhead and landed near them. Tyrande shot the crow a look of curiousity, and soon realized who it was. It was the prophet. The Guardian soon transformed to his human(?) form.

"Great Prophet, what brings you here?" Asked Malfurion.

"I have come here to inform you about something, but we will have to wait for the Former Warchief to come here." Medivh responded. He then stood beside the two lovers and watched the battle below.

Meanwhile, on the battle in the forests of Ashenvale…

"Come my warriors! Defend the Night Elves at all costs! Let them taste the wrath of The Horde!" The Warchief ordered. War cries and clashing of metals quickly followed. Thrall soon joined the fight the battle and unleashed a mighty war cry. Several cultists quickly took notice of him and tried to intercept him. But they were quickly taken care of with swings and smashes of Doom Hammer. The battle is quickly turning to their favor, when suddenly a large ogre came with a considerable amount of warlocks and other cultists with him. Several Night Elves slowly back away in fear at the sight of the monstrous ogre. Thrall quickly engaged the ogre.

"Do not falter my warriors!" The Son of Durotan exclaimed.

"Tremble night elves and orcs! Far'Cul come to destroy you!" The ogre shouted.

"You cultists will pay for this sacrilege of nature!" Thrall shouted at the ogre.

"Hahaha! Weak orc threaten me. Think he mighty! Far'Cul enjoy crushing weak orcs." Far'Cul taunted.

Thrall started to engage the huge ogre in a single battle. The ogre tried to smash the powerful shaman's head, but he is too fast for the ogre to keep up with. Far'Cul kept on hitting either rocks, trees or dirt, which made him even more frustrated.

"Weak orc just know how to dodge attacks." The ogre taunted. He then tried to hit Thrall with an overhead swing of his mace, which missed, and made him more frustrated. "Raaargh!" shouted the ogre, then charged straight for Thrall. The orc quickly jumped out of the way. Then raised his hand, aimed at the ogre and casted a bolt of lightning, hitting the monster from behind. It turned out to be effective, causing the Twilight Hammer Lieutenant to stagger and cry out in pain and rage. "You pay for that!" Shouted the ogre and made a shockwave directly aimed at the Warchief. Thankfully, the shaman managed to get out of the way. The shockwave completely obliterated everything in its path before it completely dissipated.

Thrall looked up just in time to see the ogre's mace going to hit him. He managed to block it with Doom Hammer, and now they are in a weapon lock. The ogre is slowly overpowering Thrall, but the orc is not about to get taken down by a cultist, he called upon lightning to strike the ogre. The attack came out to be successful, as the Lieutenant is stunned by the attack. Thrall followed up his attack with a wide arched swing towards the side of his enemy. It hit the ogre without resistance, causing him to clutch his side make him vulnerable for an overhead smash from Doom Hammer. The ogre dropped to the ground, defeated and bleeding. The cultists, seeing the leader of the assault fall, started to run back to their hideouts. The Night Elves and Orcs alike celebrated their successful defense against the Twilight Hammer.

"Victory is ours!" Shouted Thrall. Cheers followed his statement.

Moments later, a druid approached the Warchief bearing a message from Malfurion.

"Malfurion Stormrage requests your presence on Mount Hyjal." The druid informed Thrall.

"Understood, I'll be there immediately." Thrall said.

Moments later…

The Great Shaman finally arrived at Hyjal and is approaching a gathering of three. He quickly identified them to be Malfurion, Tyrande and Medivh. _'The prophet must have something important to tell us. And I have a feeling I already know what it is.'_ Thrall thought to himself.

"Greetings, son of Durotan. We must talk." The Last Guardian said. "As you may know, The Twilight Hammer is continuing its assault towards Nordrassil. You may have noticed that they have been more…. Motivated in their goal to burn Nordrassil to the ground." Medivh continued.

"Yes, I was wondering so myself. They have been more bloodthirsty and more violent." The Arch Druid said.

"Well, the reason might be because of the Legion's impending return." Medivh said, much to the surprise of everyone present.

"What!? Didn't they attack just recently!? Azeroth is yet to heal itself from the corruption the Legion has brought, so is The World Tree! It is far from being fully healed. How can we possibly fight the Legion!?" Tyrande exclaimed.

"Again, you are going to need the help of the other races… You must unite against a common foe. A foe of all the living. But you will need all the help you can get. I already warned Lady Proudmoore about this. So, she's preparing her forces. No doubt she warned King Wrynn too. So, they'll be ready as soon as you are." The Oracle said. "Though this time, I doubt the combined forces of Orcs, Night Elves and Humans will be enough." The Accused continued.

"Then how are we supposed to fight them?" Thrall said in a much calmer tone.

"Well, before I answer that question. I should let you all know that Sargeras managed to convince N'Zoth to join in his cause." The Prophet said.

"What!? Those abominations are more powerful than a single Titan! Even They are afraid of them! How can we possibly win another war?" Shan'do exclaimed.

"The primary reason why the Legion came back is to destroy the World Tree. But the secondary second reason would be to destroy the Lich King." Medivh said.

"Just how is that supposed to be helpful to us?" The Arch Druid asked.

"That will be up to you on how you will make use of that. But know that I will help you in whatever way I can. In due time you will know how useful it is. In due time…" Medivh said before transforming back into a great crow and flying away. Silence followed his departure before Thrall broke it.

"What do you suggest that we do now Shan'do Stormrage?" Thrall asked while gazing to where the Guardian flew away.

"I don't even know Warchief. We'll plot our next course of action once everyone is here." Malfurion replied. "I'll send a messenger to Dalaran and to Stormwind to summon the other leaders here. This matter must be addressed carefully but swiftly. I will warn the Dragon Aspects about this..."

"I'll remain here and aid you in the defense of the World Tree." The powerful shaman said.

"Well, thank you for your help then. It is much appreciated, may Elune shine upon you." Tyrande told the orc.

And so they parted ways. With Thrall going down towards the forests of Ashenvale. Malfurion going to Wyrmrest to warn the Aspects about the impending invasion of the Burning Legion. And Tyrande instructing one of his scouts to go to Stormwind and another scout to Dalaran.

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Author's Note:

So, there goes the first chapter. I'll try to update it as soon as I can… Summer is close, so expect that I will update it sooner and more frequently.

I wonder what Thrall and the others are thinking. What is their next course of action? You will find out when the next chapter is up. So, stay tuned for the next chapter. Be sure to leave a review. Criticism is always welcome. Make sure to favorite the story if you like it. Follow the story so that you will know when it is updated. So, I'll leave it like that for now. And as always… have a good day and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Adieu, mon'amies. Hope to see you soon.


	2. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

**Thank you for Looi for favoriting my story.**

**Previously... on Scorched Earth**

**The prophet has come again and made himself known. He first came to Orgrimmar, where he tried to warn the Warchief of the Horde... Thrall. He was stopped by the guards when he tried to enter Thrall's Fortress. Since the guards won't let him in, he just told them to tell the warchief to go to Mount Hyjal and meet him there. Then he flew away, towards Dalaran this time... He warned Lady Jaina Proudmoore about the return of the Legion. Jaina and Rhonin prepared their defenses and their forces for the impending return of the Burning Shadow. Then he flew towards Hyjal, saw the Priestess of the Moon, Tyrande and the Arch Druid Malfurion atop the mountain, silently watching the battle on Ashenvale with slight curiousity. When he looked at the battle, he noticed that Thrall was there, fighting with a number of orcs with him. They were aiding with the defense of Nordrassil, the World Tree, when it seemed that they are going to win, a monstrous ogre named Far'Cul came with a considerable amount of warlocks and cultists with him. Thrall immediately engaged Far'Cul in a battle, ending with the Earth Warder victorious. And so, the powerful shaman made his way towards Hyjal, and saw a gathering of three. Malfurion, Tyrande and Medivh himself. It was then when Medivh warned the three of them that the Legion is going to return soon, and that they managed to convince the Old God N'Zoth to join their cause. After the prophet warned them about it, he flew away. Malfurion decided to warn the Dragon Aspecs about the return of the Legion and sent messengers to tell the King Varian Wrynn and Jaina Proudmoore to go to Hyjal...**

* * *

_**Chapter 1: The Meeting**_

_**Meanwhile, somewhere in Northrend...**_

"Move you fools, the Lich King would not tolerate another mess from any of you." Kel'Thuzad ordered. He was tasked by the Lich King to amass and prepare the Scourge and for the return of the Legion. He foresaw this. Arthas himself also knows that they managed to convince N'Zoth to join them in their cause.

'Is everything going as planned, Lich?' asked the Lich king telepathically.

'Yes, my king. You don't need to worry about this. I can handle it.' Kel'Thuzad said.

"I heard about enough of yer sniveling. Shut yer fly trap 'afore I shut it for ye!" Kel'Thuzad heard Thane shout at one of the acolytes.

"Is everything alright Thane?" Rivendare asked Thane.

"Yes, Lord Rivendare." Thane replied.

As the scourge prepares for the arrival of the Legion, Arthas sat in the Halls Of Reflection and contemplates what his next course of action might be. Falric and Marwyn sat to his side.

"What is our next course of action milord?" Falric asked as he stood up and started pacing around the room.

"For now, we'll just prepare for the arrival of the Legion." The Lich King replied. He also stood up and started to walk towards the exit.

"Where are you going milord?" Marwyn asked as he stood up and followed Arthas.

"I'm going to go get some fresh air... And maybe pay a little visit to Anub'arak." Arthas responded casually. 'Fresh air eh? Why don't you just tell them that you are going to meet with a mad prophet?' Ner'Zhul said to the Fallen Prince.

'They are surely going to go with me, and I don't want someone following me everytime.' Arthas replied with a sigh.

'Just be careful out there my champion.' Ner'Zhul told him before the link went silent.

'This is going to be one hell of a trip down memory lane...' The Lich King thought to himself as he rode invincible and started towards the shore, where a ship ready to set sail is waiting for him.

When he got there, he was greeted by none other than the Nerubian Traitor King, Anub'arak.

"Greetings, Master. The ship is ready as you instructed... And I see you are alone?" Anub'arak asked.

"Yes, I made sure that no one would follow me here. I left Falric and Marwyn on Icecrown Citadel." Arthas replied.

"Where are we supposed to go Master?" The nerubian asked.

"We will go to Lordaeron. Or... what remains of it." The Death God responded with a nostalgic look on his face. it has been many years since he last visited that place. The place where he was born and raised. The place where he used to live. The place where he was trained to become a paladin. The place... where he killed his own father...

The nerubian's question interrupted his chain of thoughts. "What were you saying?" Arthas asked Anub'arak.

"I asked why we will go there Master. I apologize for interrupting your train of thoughts." The giant bug asked.

"Ah... we will... I will visit someone there..." Arthas said. "That reminds me, who did you leave in charge?" Arthas asked.

"I left Anub'Rekhan in charge. Why would you ask Master?" The nerubian replied inquisitively.

"Oh, nothing. Just making sure you left someone in charge..." The Undead King replied. "Now, we must set sail towards Lordaeron. The faster we get there, the better. I don't want to keep that madman waiting." Arthas said. Then he focused his power towards Azjol'Nerub and tried to locate Anub'Rekhan.

_'Anub'Rekhan, prepare your defenses and train your warriors. The Legion is about to return. And we need everyone prepared.'_ Arthas told the nerubian commander telepathically.

* * *

**_Meanwhile, in Stormwind..._**

"King Wrynn, a messenger from Dalaran have come to deliver you a message. He's currently waiting just outside the Throne Room." A Royal Guard told the king.

"I will be there shortly. Tell him to wait." The king responded. 'Just what is a messenger from Dalaran doing here?' He thought to himself as he stood up from his seat and made his way outside of the Throne Room. Sure enough, he saw the messenger sitting in one of the chairs. He immediately approached the mage. When the mage noticed him, he immediately stood up.

"Greetings, King Wrynn. I am honored by your presence." The messenger greeted. "I have been sent here by Lady Proudmoore to deliver you this letter." He said as he handed the king a letter with the Kirin Tor insignia on it.

"Thank you." Varian said. "By the way, how is Lady Proudmoore?" He asked.

"She's doing well my king." He replied.

"That's good to hear. Send my regards to Lady Proudmoore. Oh, may I ask what your name is?" The king asked.

"I am Kaztarel Darrensier... or as my superiors and friends call me, Kazi. I am an archmage from Kirin Tor." The mage introduced himself.

"Okay, Archmage Kazi. Thank you for delivering this message. May the Light shine upon you." King Wrynn replied.

"Likewise my king." He replied. Then he started to walk away towards the exit where his mount, a tamed netherdrake is waiting for him. Along the way, Kazi dropped something. Which looked like an emblem of some sort. Varian quickly retrieved it and told his guards to call back the mage.

"Hmm, what is this...?" He asked himself as he inspected the emblem. It looks like an emblem of some sort of Empire. With what looks like a shield and an upside down sword. The shield's color is white and the sword's outline color is black and the actual sword is white. Just below the sword, engraved in capital letters is "The Empire of Daresia". _'Empire of Daresia? Just what is that? I am not familiar with this... empire.'_ He thought to himself.

"My king why have you-" Kazi started before he stopped himself when he saw the king with his emblem. "M-my king? How did you get this emblem?" He asked, shocked. He looked really worried for some reason.

"I suggest we discuss this somewhere private since... you obviously wouldn't want someone else to see this or hear about whatever we are going to talk about... Let's go up the balcony Archmage Kazi." The king suggested. The mage agreed without hesitation and followed Varian upstairs and towards the balcony. He told the nearby guards not to bother them and leave them alone for a while.

"So, what exactly does this emblem symbolize? And what is The Empire of Daresia?" The king asked with eager curiosity.

"Can I ask a favor my king?" Kazi asked. The king nodded. "Can you please not tell anyone about this?Not even a word on anyone else my king?" Kazi said. The king nodded again. "That emblem, as you may have figured it out, symbolizes The Empire of Daresia. It's a secret... organization which specializes in technology and magic. Only the members and a few others know about the empire." Kazi said. He looked around every now and then to see if anyone was eavesdropping.

"Just how big is this... empire? And who is your leader?" Varian asked again.

"We only have very few members because only a few are chosen. And the leader would be me. I am the emperor of the empire." The mage responded much to the surprise of Varian.

"Wow, I never thought I am talking to a royalty." Varian said with a laugh. The emperor looked surprised by the king's sudden change of tone and mood. A while ago, he kept a straight face and is always talks formally. Now he was joking around for some reason. 'What a strange person.' Kazi thought to himself.

"But anyways, just what is this letter about? Did you read it?" King Wrynn asked. Kazi simply shook his head. "Well then, here's your emblem. You are free to go where-ever you may want." He told the emperor. Kazi then bowed his head and walked away quickly, towards his mount and flew away towards Dalaran. _'Hmmm, I wonder what this... empire is about. And what are the objectives or intentions of this empire? I would have to investigate this matter further, but first...'_ The king thought as he opened the letter. The contents of the letter seems to be only a few. But what he read made his eyes widen to the size of saucers.

_"Greetings, King Varian Wrynn._

_How goes everything in Stormwind? I hope the undead are not troubling you there. And, as for me. I am doing fine Varian. Just a little tired._

_But anyways... I bear grave news Varian, the prophet, Medivh has come back. And he warned us.. that the Legion is returning. We must prepare for our defense for the invasion of The Burning Shadow."_

He leaned on the rails of the balcony, and looked up in the sky. It's as beautiful as it can be. But this news made his mood... go down several notches. Then a guard approached him from behind.

"Sorry to interrupt your thoughts my king, but a night elf is requesting your presence. She is currently waiting outside the throne room." He told Varian. The king quickly regained his composure before he replied. "Very well, tell her to come up here." The king ordered. _'This must be about the return of the Legion.'_ Varian thought to himself. The guard bowed his head and left Varian to his thoughts again. A moment later the guard returned, with him is a night elf.

"You may leave us now." He told the guard. The guard bowed his head again and left them alone.

"Greetings, my lady. What brings you to my kingdom?" Varian asked.

"Greetings, King Wrynn, I was sent by High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind to tell you a message." She paused. "As you may know, the Legion has returned." The night elf continued. "It gets worse. Sargeras managed to convince an Old God to join their cause and devastate Azeroth. N'zoth to be exact." She continued.

"What!? How can this be!? How are we supposed to fight that abomination!? Even the titans are afraid of those things!" Varian exclaimed, horrified. He slammed his fist on the railings of the balcony. The guards immediately went to the balcony.

"Is everything alright milord?" An over-zealous guard asked.

"Yes, sorry if I made you all worry. You may leave us now." He ordered. When he was sure the guards left, he faced the night elf again. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" He asked, sighing.

"Yes there is King Varian. Priestess Tyrande and the Arch Druid, Malfurion, requests your presence to Mount Hyjal in 3 days." She told him.

"Okay, i'll be there as soon as I can." The king sighed. _'Just how can we fare any better this time? Now they have an insanely powerful ally with them.' _The man thought to himself. The night elf left him to his thoughts, which are really unpleasant because of the news he just received. He went inside the castle again and told his guards to call all the townsfolk for a huge announcement. Soon enough, all of the residents of Stormwind are right in front of the castle. They are all eyeing the king with curiosity as to what the announcement is all about.

"Greetings, residents of Stormwind! I have called upon all of you to tell you all about the grave news I just received." Varian shouted. Gossips and gasps followed his statement. He held his hand up to silence them. He took a deep breath before he said his the next sentence with would cause fear and terror to all of those present.

"The Legion has returned!" Varian shouted. Gasps of terror and gossiping immediately followed his statement, but this time, it was more severe. "And it gets worse, one of the Old Gods, N'zoth to be exact, has sworn an allegiance with the Legion!"

"However, do not despair. Because as long as I live, I will try my best to protect all of you from the dangers we are going to face." The king tried to calm the people down, it seemed to have a little effect on them. "Now, return to your homes and prepare for the invasion! The demons should not catch us unprepared!" He told the inhabitants. They all walked towards their homes and started to barricade their windows, doors and everything else.

"General Marcus Jonathan." He called the general.

"What can I do for you my king?" Marcus asked.

"Prepare our defenses. We need to be ready for the Legion's invasion." Varian told him. "Call my son, tell him to come here. I have something to tell him." He added. The general bowed his head and walked away. A few moments later he noticed his son approaching him.

"My son, I will leave you in charge for a few days. I will go to Mount Hyjal to meet up with other leaders. Make sure everyone does their job well." Varian told his son.

"I will father. Be careful around there." Anduin told his father.

"Thank you my son." Varian said. "I will be leaving immediately so that I can come back sooner." He continued. He then called his lieutenants and told them to prepare him two gryphons. He also told Bolvar to come with him.

* * *

_**A few hours later, in Dalaran..**_

A huge gathering of people is in front of the Violet Citadel, all anxious as to why they are called.

"Greetings, people of Dalaran. I have called upon you all to inform you about a news concerning the safety of you all and the whole Azeroth." Archmage Rhonin said. People started gossiping after his statement. He held his hand up to silence them. Then he spoke again, "Lady Proudmoore would be the one who will announce the said news." He then motioned her to stand beside him, which she did.

"Greetings, residents of Dalaran. I bear grave news." she announced. "The Burning Legion has returned! However, this time, we must be prepared. Now go home and do everything to keep your house safe from the great evil that is about to arrive." She added. A few minutes after the crown dispresed, they noticed a man riding a netherdrake. They quickly identified him to be the messenger that Jaina sent to Stormwind. he secured his mount after he landed and approached her.

"Milady, the message was delivered to King Varian Wrynn as you ordered" Kazi reported. "And milady, if I may ask, what was the gathering all about?" he asked.

"Ah, I informed them about the return of the Legion." She responded while she ran her hand on her beautiful blonde hair, and sighing, obviously stressed about the recent events.

"Lady Jaina Proudmoore!" A mage suddenly shouted. They quickly turned to look at the person. "A night elf messenger wishes to see you. She said she was sent by Tyrande Whisperwind." The mage said.

"A night elf? Hmm, take me to her." Jaina said. The mage escorted her to the park where they saw a night elf sitting in one of the benches. They quickly approached the woman. Upon noticing them, she stood up and greeted them. "You may leave now." She told the mage who bowed his head and left them alone. They both sat at a bench.

"Archmage Jaina Proudmoore. I have come to deliver you a message from Priestess Tyrande." She told her.

"Okay, do continue." She said quickly.

"She wants to let you know that... N'zoth is joining the cause of the Legion." She informed her. "She also requests your presence on Mount Hyjal as soon as possible." She added.

"Yes, I already know about this." She said. "Damn it!" She exclaimed. She then took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down. "Okay, thank you for this information. Anything else she wants you to tell me?" She asked sighing. The elf shook her head. "Very well, you may leave now." She told her. The elf walked away, towards where her mount is waiting. Jaina quickly started making her way towards the Violet Citadel. Where she immediately approached Rhonin upon sighting him.

"Archmage Rhonin." She greeted.

"Ah, Jaina. Is there anything you need?" He asked with a smile.

"Actually, yes. Can you do me a favor?" She asked politely.

"Sure, anything for you milady." He answered.

"Well, I was requested to come to Hyjal as soon as possible. Can you take charge while I am gone?" She asked.

"Hyjal? Why?" Rhonin asked inquisitively.

"Well, a messenger arrived a few moments ago. She said she was sent by Tyrande Whisperwind. She said the priestess requests my presence in Hyjal. Perhaps it is something concerning the Legion. She also informed me that... N'zoth has joined forces with the Legion." She replied.

"What!? N'zoth!?" Rhonin exclaimed, shocked. "How are we supposed to fight the Legion then!? We barely managed to survive the last invasion! We managed to win because of Malfurion's efforts and Nordrassil's power. And that was without anyone helping them! But now? They have the help of an Old God! Just how are we supposed to be able to defend ourselves!?" Rhonin is flat out shouting now. Several onlookers started to eye us with curiosity. He started pacing and taking deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down. "Sorry... for my outburst." He apologized.

"It's okay. That's exactly how I expected anyone of you to react once I told you." Jaina said. She was surprisingly calm, given the dire situation. "So, Archmage Rhonin, can I count on you?" She asked again.

"Yes, Lady Proudmoore. You can. Take care during the trip." He said while running his hand through his hair and sighing.

"Great! Thank you. And by the way, tell the mages to prepare a portal towards Hyjal. Oh and, please look for Kazi, I want him to come with me. I'll just prepare for my departure." She said, smiling.

"Yes milady." Rhonin said, then he started carrying out his task. He told the mages to prepare a portal for Jaina towards Hyjal. Then he looked for Kazi, after a few minutes, he sighted him on the balcony of the citadel.

"Kaztarel!" He shouted.

The mage immediately turned to face him.

"I found you at last. Prepare your things. You are going with Lady Proudmoore towards Hyjal." He informed him.

"Wha-what? Hyjal? Why?" He asked, confused as to why he was suddenly told to come with Lady Proudmoore towards Hyjal.

"You will go with her to a meeting concerning the return of the Legion." Rhonin replied.

"But, why me? Of all the mages why me?" He asked again.

"Stop asking questions Kaztarel Darrensier! Just go with Jaina. Now, let me help you prepare your things, bring everything that you think is needed. A portal is currently being prepared for the two of you. Now, let's go!" Rhonin said and he started pulling Kazi towards his room. He let out a yelp of surprise but let him pull anyways. As they arrived to his room, he told Rhonin that he can do it by himself, that he may go do other things, by which, the archmage accepted. He started packing his things, mainly a few potions, his staff, and his emblem, he also brought some other items that might be necessary. After he finished packing his things, he started walking to the outside of the Citadel. He saw Jaina, Rhonin and a few other mages waiting for him, with a portal ready to go.

"So, Kazi. Are you ready to go?" Jaina asked.

"I think so milady." He responded.

"Be careful out there you two, there is no telling what dangers you may face on the way up towards the mountain. May the light shine upon you." Rhonin said as he bid farewell to the duo. He waved his hand at them as Kazi stepped through the portal. When he opened his eyes, he looked around and noticed that they are at the base of the mountain. Seconds later, Jaina walked through the portal. When she noticed that they were at the base of the mountain, she sighed.

"Okay, we are here." Jaina stated. "And now..." she said before she pulled out a scroll from her pack and read it. A portal appeared in front of them, they quickly stepped through the portal. Sure enough, they are now at the summit of the great mountain.

"Why didn't we just teleport at the summit in an instant? Why did we have to teleport at the base first?" Kazi asked.

"I'm not the one who created the portal towards here." Jaina said while shrugging.

"Greetings, Lady Proudmoore." Malfurion greeted. They all exchanged greetings to each other.

"I see you have brought a companion?" Tyrande noted.

"Ah, yes. This is Kaztarel Darrensier, or... Kazi. He is an archmage of Kirin Tor and is one of the most talented mages in Dalaran." She introduced him.

"Greetings..." Kazi simply said. Jaina raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He was unsure of what he was supposed to say.

"Well, now we must-" the Arch Druid started but was interrupted by a sudden crash from below and sounds of screams.

"Whoah! What was that!?" Kazi exclaimed. Another crash then followed. Then, a Druid of the Talon emerged out of nowhere, he has a panicked look on his face.

"Pardon Shan'do! But we need your help immediately! Several ogres and fire elementals have appeared out of nowhere. They seemed to have gone mad! The night elves and a few orcs are doing their best in defending their positions, but they are quickly losing!" The druid said.

"What!? Then I must go with you immediately!" He said and started to follow the druid.

"Wait, i'll go too!" Tyrande said, running after them.

"Well, I guess i'll be helping too. You two coming?" Thrall asked the two of them. They looked at each other for a brief moment before nodding their heads. "Then let's go." he said as they started sprinting after the night elves.

When they reached the outpost where the druid said are being assaulted by ogres and fire elementals, they immediately took notice of a fierce battle between the Twilight's hammer and the sentinels.

"These cultists just never give up. Lok'tar ogar!" Thrall shouted and charged into battle. He immediately engaged the ogres, with Jaina and Kazi soon helping him. Tyrande and Malfurion engaged the elemetals.

"You cultists never learn! Night elves, press the attack!" Malfurion cried as he summoned treants from the nearby trees.

"Tor ilisar'thera'nal!" Tyrande shouted as she released a barrage of arrows at the cultists. Killing several in an instant. A cultist managed to get close to her, but a quick kick to the chest and an arrow to the head quickly took care of him.

As Tyrande and Malfurion's assaults against the cultists continued, Thrall is busy dealing with the ogres.

"Raaaargh! TAKE THIS!" Thrall screamed and raised Doom Hammer. Several ogres took steps back as the hammer continued to glow. Lightning suddenly struck at the powerful hammer, making it glow brighter. He then slammed the hammer to the ground at full force, creating a huge shockwave directed towards a group of ogres. They all decided to be stupid and tried deflecting the shockwave with their own, but it seemed to have little to no effect to the shockwave, but then again, ogres aren't exactly known for their intelligence. The wave hit them with terrifying force, sending them flying, in a manner that resembles bowling.

Jaina is throwing fireball after fireball at the ogres, however, an ogre managed to get close to her without her noticing. Kazi quickly threw an arcane spear at the ogre. It exploded upon contact, knocking the ogre back. He followed it up with a barrage of fireballs, effectively taking the ogre down in a few seconds. Several ogres started closing in on them, when suddenly, a chain of lightning struck them from behind which stunned them. Kazi quickly encased one of the ogres in ice, freezing the ogre fully. He then raised his hand, then clenched it. The ice shattered to pieces along with the frozen ogre. Jaina made a pillar of flame, which covered the ogre in fire, completely burning him. The ogre could only scream in pain as he was burned to the bones.

It was then the ogres finally recovered from the chain of lightning. They all charged at them, but they all stopped in their tracks when Kazi froze their feet to the ground.

"Now milady!" He exclaimed. Jaina quickly conjured huge ice spikes and launched them at the ogres, killing them in an instant. As she looked around, she noticed that the tides have shifted to their favor, as they are successfully repelling the cultists who attempted to close in on them. Thrall is making a quick work of the ogres. Only a few are remaining. She watched as Thrall as he swung his hammer on an ogre, towards it's stomach, making it clutch it's stomach in pain. The warchief quickly followed it up with an upwards swing from his hammer, making the ogre fly some distance up the air. An ogre managed to sneak up on him, the ogre grabbed him from behind and bear hugged him.

"Argh!" He cried out in pain. He quickly tried to think of a solution to free himself. But thankfully, Kazi threw an ice spear at the ogre's feet, making it lose his grip on him. He immediately picked up Doom Hammer and swung it straight on the ogre's face, knocking it down. It tried to get up, but Thrall's boot put him down again. He put more and more pressure on his foot until he heard a sickening crunch, the ogre then lay motionless on the ground.

The cultists are quickly retreating, as they are obviously outnumbered. The orcs, elves and human alike celebrated their victory. And as they are celebrating another successful defense, two gryphons touched down near them, they quickly identified them as none other than King Varian Wrynn and Bolvar Fordragon.

"Ah, finally. King Varian Wrynn is here along with Bolvar Fordragon." Malfurion noted.

"Greetings. As requested, I have come... I didn't expect you here Lady Proudmoore." Varian said. "And it seems i'm a little late for the party?" He added.

"Yeah." Jaina answered. "Now, come. Let's go back up to the peak so that we can start the meeting." she added as she started to walk back up towards the mountain.

**_Several minutes later..._**

As the seven of them are waiting for the dragonflight representatives, they talked amongst each other.

A massive red dragon then arrived, and transformed to his humanoid form when he landed. The dragon was none other than Vaelastrasz.

"Ah, the representative of the red dragonflight is here." Malfurion noted.

"Greetings, Arch Druid Malfurion. Earth Warder Thrall." The dragon greeted.

A few moments later, a bronze dragon came, which is quickly identified to be Chronormu. Then followed by a green dragon, Alysra. And lastly, a blue dragon, Vrostigos.

"Ah, everyone is finally here. Now, we may start the meeting. But before that, let us introduce ourselves to everyone, shall we?" The Arch Druid said. When he received no response. He just started to introduce himself. "Okay, so i'll go first. I am Malfurion Stormrage. The first night elf of Azeroth and I used to be under the tutelage of the demigod Cenarius." He said.

"I am Tyrande Whisperwind, high priestess of Elune and the head of the Sisterhood of Elune." Tyrande said.

"I am Thrall, warchief of the Orcish Horde and the Earth Warder of Azeroth." Thrall said.

"I am, Jaina Proudmoore. Ruler of Dalaran." Jaina said.

"I, am Kaztarel Darrensier. Archmage of the Kirin Tor, serving under Lady Jaina Proudmoore." Kazi said.

"I am Varian Wrynn, king of the Kingdom of Stormwind." Varian said.

"I am Bolvar Fordragon. Regent of Stormwind." Bolvar said.

"I am Vaelastrasz, son of the Aspect of Life, Alexstrasza." The massive red Dragon, Vaelastrasz said.

"I am, Chronormu, the keeper of the timelines." The bronze dragon said.

"I am Alysra, one of the Ysera's trusted lieutenants." The green dragon said.

"I... am Vrostigos. Malycgos' most trusted lieutenant." The blue dragon said.

"And so its settled. So, let's start with the meeting. Since not everyone knows everything, we should let others know what we know." Malfurion said. "First off, everyone knows that the Burning Legion is returning, and is going to invade Azeroth again. But now, they have a powerful ally at their side..." Malfurion added.

"N'zoth..." Thrall said. His voice rumbled as he said the name of the old god.

"Yes you are right. So, their primary objective is to destroy Nordrassil and invade Azeroth. And their secondary objective... is to destroy the Lich King." Malfurion informed. They all nodded. "They will likely try to do one objective at a time, but I think they would do their main objective first. They will try to destroy Nordrassil or at least... defile it."

"I understand Arch Druid. But, what are we supposed to do with our kingdom and my people?" Varian asked. This got nods of approval on everyone.

"I have already thought of that, King Varian. It's either they remain there, or they abandon their homes and evacuate to... Outland." Malfurion said calmly.

"I think I prefer the latter. My kingdom won't stand a chance against the demons alone." He said.

"What about Dalaran? What should we do? Evacuate to Outland as they will?" Jaina asked.

"Sadly, yes. There is no other option for now." Malfurion said.

"The residents of Orgrimmar will be moving to Outland too. However, I think it will be better if the able citizens will remain and fight against the legion." Thrall suggested.

"I like that idea, warchief." Bolvar said.

"What happens after they moved to Outland? They will surely become defenseless and very vulnerable." Jaina said.

"Ah, they will have to take refuge in Shattrah, A'dal will protect them from the vile beasts." Malfurion said.

"I will also ask the orcs in Nagrand to help defend the refugees from the demons." Thrall said. "That reminds me, as soon as this meeting is over, I will have to go to Draenor and ask Greatmother Geyah to help the refugees and also to pay her a visit." He said. It has been a long time since he last visited his grandmother. But he certainly did wish it was under better circumstances.

They continued their meeting. They discussed their plans, their strategies on how to defend Nordrassil.

"By the way, how are we supposed to deal with the Lich King?" Bolvar asked.

"I don't know yet. But I have a feeling we will soon find out." Malfurion responded.

* * *

**_A few hours later, in Lordaeron..._**

"Master, we are here." Anub'arak said. As the ship landed on the shore, they immediately ran out of the ship and surveyed the area for any sign of hostiles.

"Okay, Anub'arak. Thank you for assisting me here. You may now go back to the ship and rest." Arthas ordered.

"As you wish master." The insect replied as he made his way towards the ship.

'Now, I must find this prophet. He said he'll be waiting in the throne room of The Lordaeron palace. Ugh, what a trip down memory lane.' he thought to himself as he made his way to the ruins of Lordaeron palace.

As he walked towards the palace, he can't help but notice how ruined the place is now. He also met a few hostile creatures. Some tried to intercept him, but they were quickly taken care of from a cleave from Frostmourne. After half an hour, he finally arrived at the entrance of Lordaeron palace. And its just as he expected, demonic creatures walked around the place. Many were wise enough to back away from him when they realized who he was. As he made his way in front of the massive door, he noticed that there's someone following him. When he heard a string and the sound of an arrow slicing through wind, he quickly raised his sword to block the projectile.

"Arthas, finally we can settle the score between us." A woman who looks like an undead with a bow said.

"Ah, Sylvanas. I see you were following me. But I am too busy to fight you. I'm supposedly going to meet with someone. But it seems, you got me first. But, i'm afraid I can't fight you for now." He said as he turned and started to walk to the massive door. Another arrow was shot, but he simply dodged it.

"Arthas, you won't turn your back on me again. It's time for my vengeance." Sylvanas said venomously as he fired a barrage of arrows at the Lich King. He quickly made an ice wall to block the arrows. Then he shattered the ice wall and launched the sharp fragments on the Forsaken Lady. She narrowly avoided the shards, however. She fired another arrow to her nemesis, but he just blocked it with Frostmourne.

"Enough of this Sylvanas, stop wasting my time!" Arthas said as he blocked another arrow from her.

"No! I'm not letting you get away this time!" She screamed as she fired another arrow, which Arthas blocked again.

"Then I have no other choice." He said. He then ran at her head on, The Dark Lady tried to hit him with the arrow, but he simply avoided them or blocked them. She had no choice but to get out of the man's way. But, just as she jumped out of the way, Arthas threw a large ice hammer at her, hitting her and sending her flying towards a nearby tree. Arthas quickly ran to her at unimaginable speed and choked her.

"I warned you." Arthas said coldly. But after a few seconds, he released her grip on her, making her fall on the ground as she tried to catch her breath. "Stay away from me. Don't even try following me inside, or I won't hesitate to kill you next time." He warned as he started walking towards the door that leads to the throne room. After he entered, Sylvanas can't help but wonder. 'Why didn't he kill me? It was his chance to do so.' She thought as she tried to catch her breath.

* * *

As he entered the Throne Room, he noticed that it remained untouched for years. His father's blood is still on the floor. And he kept on hearing whispers. Faint cheering of his arrival, and his father asking what he was doing just before he killed him. He then heard something, 'This kingdom shall fall! And from the ashes shall arise a new order! That will shake the very foundations of the world.'

"Not a surprise that the citizens of this kingdom still cannot find peace and are haunting the land." A figure said as he emerged from the shadow.

"It was you, who talked to me when I was about to go to Northrend to avenge my people and kill Mal'Ganis.." Arthas noted.

"Ah, yes. I warned you, but you didn't listen. Look what happened. You drove this kingdom to the ground." The prophet said.

"Enough of this! I have not come here for redemption since everything I did, everything I fought for is for my kingdom! Now tell me... Why did you ask me to come here?" He asked, his voice echoing in a terrifying manner, and the room seems to darken visibly for a brief moment.

"I have come here to tell you that... The Burning Legion has returned. And that they seek to destroy you." Medivh replied.

"Destroy me?" He asked.

"Yes, you have grown too powerful for them to control." The Last Guardian replied.

"Too powerful eh. Let them come then, let them taste the might of the Scourge!" Arthas stated.

"I don't think you and your undead would stand a chance against the Legion this time Lich King, for they have allied with an Old God named N'zoth." He warned.

"Well then, what do you propose?" Arthas asked with a hint of curiosity.

"You must side with the Horde, Night elves and Humans if you wish to survive!" Medivh said.

"Hahahaha! Are you crazy!? Siding with the living?" Arthas asked as he laughed at the idea of him fighting alongside elves, humans and orcs. "Besides, why would you care for me? I am a huge threat to Azeroth, am I not?" Arthas asked.

"I am doing this for the good of Azeroth! This world would not survive another blow from the Legion! This world will be destroyed if you don't ally with the other factions!" Medivh warned. He was obviously trying to convince the Lich King.

"Obviously, they wouldn't even allow me to walk near them. What makes you think they will allow me to fight with them against the Legion?" He asked, annoyed by the prophet's proposal. "Listen, you might think that I would side with them to fight the Legion. But I won't for obvious reasons. I'm going to ask you to leave now before I do something about it..." Arthas said coldly. The room visibly darkened following his statement.

"Then i've wasted my time here." Medivh said as he transformed into a crow and flew away. 'The warning has been given. Their fate is now their own.' he thought to himself.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

"The time has come..." A dark and terrifying voice said.

"The Dark Lord calls! Great Dark Lord calls!" A large two headed ogre said as it dropped on its knees.

"What would Dark Lord order to Cho'Gall?" An ogre asked with a terrifying appearance. His arm is twisted, which looks like it was transformed into some sort of giant mutated clawed arm.

"You must push through the defenses of the Night Elves or at least... weaken them. For the Burning Legion is coming." The voice said. "The Twilight's hammer won't stand a chance against the defenses of the Night Elves, so you will need a little help. Summon Ragnaros the Firelord to burn through the defenses of the wretched elves!"

"Firelord! He burns! HE RAGES!" One of the heads chanted terrifyingly.

* * *

**So that's chapter two for you all! Hopefully I didn't make you wait for a long time...**

**And what was that? The Twilight's Hammer is summoning Ragnaros!? Just how are Malfurion supposed to defend against them now? You'll have to find out in the next update. That's all for now.**

**Adieu.**


	3. Elemental Showdown

**Hello again reader. Here's chapter three for you all. But before that, for those who are too lazy to read the previous chapter again or needs a recap, here it is...**

**Arthas is now preparing for the return of the Legion, however. His presence is requested by The Last Guardian, Medivh on Lordaeron. Which quickly became one hell of a trip down memory lane. And so he went there, along with Anub'arak who escorted him to Lordaeron. Along the way towards the palace, he encountered the Banshee Queen, Sylvanas. She tried to kill Arthas, but failed as she was easily subdued. The Lich King decided not to kill him for some reason. He went to the Lordaeron Palace where the Prophet was waiting. He tried to convince Arthas to unite in arms with the orcs, humans and night elves against the Legion. Which he immediately declined...  
Meanwhile... in Mount Hyjal.  
Jaina just arrived on the summit from Dalaran when suddenly they heard a crash from below and a terrifying scream. A druid of the talon came out of nowhere and warned them about the threat of ogres and fire elementals below. They followed the druid towards where their defenses are being assaulted by the combined force of elementals, ogres and cultists. They were quickly taken care of with the combined effort of Jaina, Malfurion, Tyrande, Thrall and Kazi.  
Meanwhile...  
Cho'Gall was commanded to summon the Firelord Ragnaros to aid them against the night elves' defenses around Nordrassil. He was commanded by a mysterious voice he only referred to as The Great Dark Lord...**

**And there's the recap. Now, here's the next chapter for you all. Enjoy...**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Elemental Showdown**

As all of the Kingdom Leaders came back to their kingdom. They immediately ordered the citizens to evacuate immediately to Outland... Thrall immediately ordered evacuation on Orgrimmar and told Garrosh to go to Ashenvale and aid in the defense, he ordered Nazgrel to assist the refugees in going to Outland. He then immediately went to Thunder Bluff to inform Baine about the impending invasion before going to Outland. When he arrived, he was greeted by the taurens of the Bloodhoof Tribe. Upon sighting Baine, he immediately approached the young chieftain.

The massive tauren noticed him quickly. "Ishne'alo'porah Warchief Thrall." Baine greeted.

"Throm'ka Chieftain." Thrall responded, smiling.

"What brings you here Warchief?" He asked.

"I have come to pay you a visit... and tell you about something." Thrall replied.

"Ah, well then, would you like to speak to me in private?" The Tauren Chieftain suggested.

"Yes, I think it would be better that way..." He agreed.

"Very well Warchief. Follow me." Baine said as he started walking towards a hut. Thrall immediately followed him inside.

"So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?" He asked after he told his guards not to let anyone else enter the hut.

"The Burning Legion has returned..." Thrall said. "But it gets worse... N'zoth the old god has joined their cause." Thrall added.

"What do you propose that we do Warchief?" Baine asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Do not fear chieftain." Thrall assured. "We have decided to evacuate all of the citizens of every kingdom or tribes to Outland and take refuge in Shattrah. Those who are able and willing will remain on Azeroth and fight the Legion." Thrall informed.

"But, what about when they get there? They will surely be defenseless." Baine asked.

"I will go to Greatmother Geyah who resides in Nagrand in Outland and ask her to protect the refugees from the Legion or from any other threats." Thrall replied.

"I'm not entirely sure about this, Thrall. We are about to leave a place we have finally called home." The chieftain said, with a clear saddened tone.

"Baine, you will have to leave this place if you still want your people to live. Azeroth will soon turn into a huge battlefield. And everyone will be involved in it. Several will be caught between the crossfire. And I wouldn't want that to happen to my friends and allies." Thrall said with a smile.

"Very well then, I would order an evacuation immediately." Baine said as he walked out of the hut. He then ordered a few of his companions to evacuate the whole tribe immediately towards Outland. When asked why, he simply said "A war is about to happen, all of those able to fight will be left behind and fight for Azeroth. Those who are not able and are not willing to do so will go to Outland and take refuge in Shattrah."

"Baine, one last thing. Can you go to Ashenvale and aid in the defense of Nordrassil? They are currently fighting against the Twilight's Hammer." Thrall said.

"Sure thing Warchief. However, it will take some time for me to reach Ashenvale." Baine replied.

"Here's a scroll of teleportation. Bring a few of your most skillful warriors with you. The others should escort the refugees towards Outland." He said.

"Okay Warchief. Again, the taurens are in the Horde's debt." Baine said before he read the scroll and teleported away towards Ashenvale. Thrall asked Tagar if he can handle the evacuation by himself, by which he assured Thrall he can. So he left Thunder Bluff and quickly made his way to The Blasted Lands where he would take the portal towards Draenor. He would go to Nagrand to warn Greatmother Geyah about the Legion's return and also to ask her a favor.

'This would take some time...' Thrall thought to himself before sighing, he then rode Snowsong on his way towards The Dark Portal...

* * *

**Meanwhile... In Ashenvale.**

Kazi is currently on the front lines as he fought against the cultists of the Twilight's Hammer. He was left on Ashenvale by Jaina Proudmoore as she thought he'll be more help here. Bolvar Fordragon was also left on Ashenvale and is currently hacking and slicing through cultists after cultists. Malfurion is away on an errand, so is Tyrande. So they are left alone to defend against the cultists.

"I grow tired of you cultists!" Kazi shouted as he unleashed another pyroblast on an ogre. The ogre got blasted back, flying through the air until he hit a tree. Then suddenly, a huge ogre came out of nowhere and unleashed a shockwave against the defenses of the night elves. Kazi quickly jumped out of the way.

"Damn it! What is it with these ogres and their shockwaves!?" Kazi shouted as he avoided a swing from an ogre. He immediately leaped away from the ogre and shot a barrage of arcane missiles at it. It stunned the ogre for several seconds. Which was enough for Kazi to impale it with an ice spike. As he turned to look at where the large ogre was, he was met with a mace in the face. He flew into the air and smacked against a tree.

"Argh... that hurt." He thought as he stood up. He immediately called upon the light to heal his bruises and wounds. He looked for the ogre that hit him, but realized that Bolvar is engaged in a full melee battle against him. Neither are gaining the upper hand as they are both skillful and strong. After a few seconds, they are finally in a weapon lock. The ogre was slowly overpowering Bolvar, but he unleashed an explosion of holy fire, knocking his opponent back and following it up with a devastating vertical slash from his sword. He joined in with the fight, attacking the cultists from a distance.

"Charge my brethren! Aid the night elves in their defense!" A mighty tauren shouted. They could only watch in awe as the taurens easily slaughtered the cultists and ogres easily. They are quickly being overpowered.

* * *

**Meanwhile... in the Twilight Highlands...**

"Cho'Gall... Start the ritual." A terrifying voice ordered.

"As you wish, great dark lord" A large ogre said before he started chanting.

"Tonight! Twilight falls and the enemies will be crushed against the might of Darkness itself..." The voice said.

* * *

**Back in Ashenvale...**

The night elves, taurens and humans are holding the cultists back with ease. And with the sudden arrival of said taurens, they never stood a chance.

"Victory is assured!" Kazi shouted. When suddenly, a terrifying roar came from the forests. They all paused with whatever they are doing and tried to find the source of the roar.

"What the hell was that!?" Bolvar exclaimed. Like a cue, a huge gronn jumped out of the forests and started annihilating the night elves and their allies.

"Kill that monster!" Someone shouted from behind the barricade. A barrage of arrows was launched at the gronn, the terrifying monster roared in pain.

"Argh! You weak night elves will not last long against the might of N'zoth! He's coming soon, to rule over Azeroth again!" The gronn roared.

"N'zoth? Wasn't that the Old God that joined the Legion's cause?" Kazi asked to nobody in particular.

"Ah yes. The mightiest Old God of all. He's coming, Cho'Gall will be freeing him and he'll destroy Nordrassil without hesitation." The gronn boasted.

"Damnit, what should we do? We must stop the Cho'Gall bastard before it's too late!" Bolvar exclaimed.

"It's already too late, weak human. Soon, twilight will fall, and the enemies of the Old God will be crushed against the might of Darkness itself. I am Gruul the Dragonkiller. I am tasked by N'zoth himself to not let anyone get close to Cho'Gall during the ritual." Gruul said as he laughed. "Now! Enough talking! I'm going to kill you all! RAARGH!" It shouted as he jumped into battle, the taurens quickly backed away from the creature, as he swiped and smashed anyone near him.

"Kill that monster! Charge my warriors! Lok'tar Ogar! FOR THE HORDE!" A war cry sounded. Several orcs started to join into battle, attempted to hack at the creature, but to no avail. Then someone, ran head on on the creature, jumped at the back of it, and started hacking away with his axe, which was quickly recognized to be Gorehowl.

"Garrosh! It's him!" Bolvar shouted. "Just what the hell is he doing here?" He exclaimed.

"Let's not bother asking question. Let's just help him kill Gruul." Kazi said as he started a barrage of spells against the creature. He conjured ice spikes and launched them at the creature, piercing it's chest. It roared in pure agony and started thrashing around, almost knocking Garrosh off of his back.

"RAARGH! TASTE THIS! Feel the might of Gorehowl! The same axe who killed Mannoroth in a single strike!" Garrosh roared as he jumped up from the creature's back, his axe now began glowing, and he fell back down, along with his axe, and made a huge vertical slash on the creature's back making it bleed profusely. It started to fall down it's knees and finally, fall down face first into the dirt. Everyone including Bolvar and Kazi could only look at him in awe, as he almost single-handedly killed the creature.

"VICTORY!" Garrosh shouted as he raised his axe high up in the air. Cheers and shouts of applause were directed towards him for killing the creature.

* * *

**Back in The Twilight Highlands...**

"Master, it is almost finished. Just a little more patience." Cho'Gall said.

"Make it quick! The enemy awaits!" N'zoth ordered. "In the meantime, I'll order Ragnaros to assault the night elves' defenses." It said, while laughing evilly.

* * *

_**The next day...**_

Kaztarel, Bolvar, Garrosh, and Baine are now planning another defense against the Twilight's Hammer. They just received reports that Ragnaros is now heading towards Ashenvale and plans to burn Nordrassil to the ground.

"He'll likely charge head on to our defenses. We'll be able to attack him then. But I don't see how our weapons would work against him." Bolvar stated.

"Yeah. What weapons should we use against him? Kazi here got a few tricks that would work against the Elemental Lord, but... What about us? Would we just stand around and watch as Ragnaros destroys our defenses!?" Garrosh shouted.

"Calm down, Warchief. We don't need to shout against each other since we are just a few meters apart." Baine said.

"Shut up you tauren fool! I don't need anyone lecturing me!" He retorted as he stood up from his seat and shot the tauren a death glare.

Bolvar slammed his hand on the table. "Enough! We came here to defend the World Tree! Not to fight over something. If there is anything that we should fight, it's the Twilight's Hammer."

"You human lap dog should shut your mouth before I shut it for you!" The orc shouted. Bolvar quickly stood up and glared at the warchief. They both drew their weapons and started to approach each other threateningly.

"Enough! Violence will not be tolerated here! Sit down!" A recently arrived Malfurion Stormrage ordered.

"You worthless rats would be dead if I had not come!" Garrosh shouted as he tried to hit Bolvar with his axe. The man blocked it with his sword easily. Deciding that nothing would stop Garrosh from hitting someone else, Kazi quickly froze both to their necks.

"Argh! How dare you!" The orc shouted at the mage.

"You've gone a step too far Warchief. His actions are necessary." The Arch Druid said. "Now, if only we would just discuss this in a much more peaceful manner, it would be greatly appreciated." He added. Both said nothing following his statement. Malfurion ordered Kazi to remove the ice from them, to which Kazi did quickly.

"So, what's the situation?" Shan'do asked.

"Scouts reported that Ragnaros is sighted somewhere in the Twilight Highlands and is advancing towards Ashenvale to burn Nordrassil to the ground." Kazi explained.

"Ragnaros? Argh..." The elf said, sighing.

"What do you suggest that we do, Shan'do?" Kaztarel asked.

"I say we hold out until Thrall arrives." Garrosh said. This got nods of approval among those present.

"Pardon, Shan'do! But the Elemental Lord has arrived! He's currently assaulting our defenses!" A druid exclaimed.

"What!? He arrived sooner than I expected. Let's go, champions. We must defend Nordrassil at all costs." Malfurion ordered.

"We'll just teleport. Come near me." Kazi said. The champions stood near him. Kazi quickly uttered an incantation and they all are teleported towards where Ragnaros is raging.

"There's the elemental!" Bolvar shouted. "How are we supposed to get close to that thing? We'll be singed if we get closer than 3 meters from it!" He exclaimed. A barrage of arrows are being launched on the elemental to little to no effect on it.

"Let's see if this works." Kazi said, then he uttered a few incantations and they were all encased in thick ice. Strangely enough, this ice armor does not restrict their movements. "Okay, it did. That would let you get close enough to the elemental for at least... ten to twenty minutes." He explained. "Be sure to use the time wisely." He added. They all shot him looks of thanks.

"Now, let's go and kill some burning elemental! Lok Tar'Ogar!" Garrosh shouted as he charged towards the elemental lord.

'Here goes nothing!' Bolvar thought to himself as he charged into battle.

**"Hahahahaha! So, you think those weak frost armor would hold out long against the heat of my wrath!? You are all wrong!" **The Firelord taunted. He immediately did a breath of fire towards them. They quickly scattered and dodged the flame. Garrosh went behind the elemental and charged. He quickly slashed through the elemental's fiery skin, making it roar in pain.

**"ARGH! You orc will pay for that!" **He roared as it tried to grab the orc to no success. Garrosh is too fast for the elemental. Taking advantage of the distraction, Bolvar quickly charged to the elemental and slashed away at it's massive body. Again, it roared in pure agony. It's body began to glow, and suddenly, a huge wave of flame hit everyone nearby. The champions didn't have time to get away from the elemental. Their frost armor is now destroyed and they are now vulnerable to the tremendous heat that Ragnaros is making.

"Champions! Fall back!" Bolvar ordered as he started to run back behind the barricades.

**"Hahaha! You will never defeat me!" **Ragnaros taunted as he unleashed another breath of fire at the champions. Bolvar quickly erected a divine shield for the champions, effectively blocking the attack.

"You are going to pay for the damage you caused!" Malfurion shouted. He raised his staff, making it glow, then suddenly... huge roots came out of nowhere and started to restrain the firelord. The roots are for some reason, fire resistant.

**"ARGH! If you think these roots will stop me then you are gravely mistaken!" **Ragnaros shouted as his whole body started to glow again. Bolvar quickly put the divine shield up before the burst of flame could hit them. The burst of flame incinerated the trees nearby, the roots that are restraining him caught fire and soon turned to ashes.

**"Hahahaha. Pathetic wretches!" **He shouted as it unleashed a huge fireball towards the divine shield. It flickered momentarily as it absorbed the impact of the fireball. Then, he raised his hand up, and a hammer-shaped flame appeared in his hand. It soon started to solidify, forming the infamous Sulfuras. Knowing what was about to happen, Bolvar quickly strengthened the shield's durability. Kazi created an ice shell and Malfurion created a shield of vines, further enhancing the durability of the shield. Ragnaros roared as he slammed his hammer on the shield, the shield shattered at the force of the impact and making a shockwave that knocked all of them to the ground. They quickly rolled out of the way as Ragnaros slammed his hammer again, thankfully, no one was hit.

"Argh!" Kazi exclaimed. He then raised his hand and froze both Ragnaros' hands. It seemed ineffective as the ice began to melt quickly.

**"A worthy effort. But futile!" **The gigantic elemental roared as he slammed his hammer on Kazi. Kazi managed to leap out of the way to avoid being crushed, but he didn't manage to avoid the tremendous shockwave that followed the blow. Kazi was launched to a nearby tree, nearly knocking him unconscious, his head is now bleeding. As he got up, drops of blood came from his head. He felt very dizzy, but he managed to stay up. A druid quickly took notice of this and healed his wound, making him feel a little better. The situation is getting worse and worse as each minute passed. He quickly thought what he can do, when an idea came to mind...

Kazi quickly channeled as much energy as he can into his staff. He will do something that will make an average mage pass out or worse... die because of exhaustion. He raised his staff and conjured a huge ball of ice, which is more like an ice shell, and channeled as much frost magic as he can from his staff to the inside of the ball. Ragnaros quickly took notice of this and tried to melt the ice ball, but he roared in pain when a sudden slash from Gorehowl hit him. The elemental lord tried to smash the orc but he kept on missing. The orc was too fast to keep up with. As the orc dodged he also slashed away. Baine roared in rage, then stomped his feet on the ground, cracking it, when all of a sudden, a huge spike rock came out of the cracks and impaled the firelord on its chest. He roared in pain as he pulled himself away from the rock. Soon, Kazi's ice bomb is ready to be launched.

"Fall back to the barricades!" Kazi ordered. They all started falling back except for Malfurion who casted Entangling roots on the Elemental Lord, making it vulnerable for the devastating attack that Kazi is about to unleash...

When everyone was behind the barricades, he raised his staff and his hand, and quickly launched the ice bomb to Ragnaros. The bomb exploded upon contact, frost magic exploded everywhere, freezing anything in range. Ragnaros himself was encased in ice even though he is a being of pure flame. His flames extinguished because of the explosion of pure frost magic.

They all celebrated their successful defense against the Firelord. But after a few moments, their celebration was short lived when Ragnaros' inner body started to glow again, and after a few moments, the ice that encased him completely shattered.

**"ARGH! YOU PETTY MORTALS THOUGHT OF ME DEFEATED!? NEVER WILL I BE DEFEATED!" **A very pissed off Ragnaros shouted at the defenders of Nordrassil. He charged at the defenders and smashed his flaming hammer towards them, hitting a few druids and instantly killing them. Kazi tried casting another frost spell, but he was too drained to even make a simple frost bolt.

"Kazi, fall back to the barricades before-" Bolvar was suddenly interrupted by a swing from Sulfuras, making him fly towards a tree and knocking him unconscious.

"Lord Bolvar!" Kazi shouted.

"Kazi! Fall back towards Nordrassil and inform the others!" Malfurion commanded.

**"Hahaha, pathetic human." **Ragnaros boasted. Garrosh quickly used this distraction to charge at Ragnaros and take a slash at him, he got singed as he did so. **"Argh! Stupid orc!" **He roared as he grabbed Hellscream and threw him to a nearby tree, it further singed him and made his head bleed profusely, it also knocked him unconscious.

"Argh!" Malfurion exclaimed as he called out to the roots of the land to restrain Ragnaros. The gigantic roots did as they were asked, but they quickly burned to ashes upon contact. Ragnaros ran towards the Arch Druid and as he was about to smash him, a root quickly blocked the attack, but the sheer force of the attack caused the root to break and fly towards Malfurion, knocking him out.

"Feel the fury of the Earth Mother!" Baine roared as he slammed his mace on the ground, creating a terrifyingly large shockwave that hit the firelord straight in the chest, knocking it back and making it fall off balance. Dust flew in every direction, blocking Baine's sight from the elemental lord. He suddenly jumped from the dust, and tried to smash Baine. He avoided the attack, but the shockwave made him fly to a tree, knocking him out.

**"Hahahaha... Nothing stands before me and the World Tree now." **The Firelord said as he started to make his way towards Nordrassil.

* * *

**_Meanwhile at Nordrassil's base..._**

An Archmage just teleported at the base of the Tree, who is none other than Jaina Proudmoore. A few blue dragons are waiting on the World Tree.

"What's the situation Vrostigos? And why are you all here?" Jaina asked as she surveyed the surrounding forests. She noticed that there is something burning in Ashenvale.

"Lady Jaina Proudmoore. Greetings. Kalecgos sent us here to defend against the Firelord, Ragnaros. We just-" He was suddenly interrupted by a blue drake.

"Pardon. But we found this Archmage nearby, he said he's got something to tell us." The drake said as he dropped the said mage.

"Archmage Kazi!" Jaina said as she approached him and helped him up. He looks very exhausted.

"Lady Jaina... I.. have come to tell you... that Ragnaros... is coming." Kaztarel said. "We tried our... best... Bolvar, Garrosh... and Malfurion have all... Argh... Hnngh..." He said before he passed out completely.

"They are what? What happened to them!?" Jaina demanded.

"Milady, I think this human should rest. It appears that he used up all his mana and energy." Vrostigos noted. "Let my companions take him somewhere else to rest." He added before he ordered one of his kin to take the human somewhere else to rest. Jaina let go of the man, and let the dragon grab it on it's legs and fly away. "So, he said that the Firelord is coming. We must prepare our defenses." The dragon stated.

"Vrostigos, the Firelord is sighted nearby. He'll be here in a few minutes!" A dragon informed.

"Okay, thank you for the information." He said. "He came here sooner than expected. I guess we'll have to improvise..." He added.

Then, suddenly. Someone teleported nearby. They quickly identified him to be Thrall.

"Greetings, Earth Warder." Vrostigos greeted.

"Greetings, great dragon." Thrall replied. He then faced Jaina. "What's the situation Jaina?" He asked.

"Ragnaros is coming. He's going to try to burn Nordrassil to the ground. He already destroyed one of the outlying outposts. And he is now heading here." Jaina explained.

"So that's why the elements here are raging..." The orc said thoughtfully. "We must defend The World Tree at all costs." He added.

"He'll be here any moment World Shaman." Vrostigos informed him.

"Okay. Where are the others by the way? Where is Garrosh?" He asked inquisitively.

"Kaztarel Darrensier said something about them doing their best. He was not able to finish his statement though. He passed out before he could." She said.

"I sincerely hope its not what i'm thinking..." The orc said worriedly.

"Our defenses are prepared Earth Warder. Your presence is requested on the front lines." A druid said.

"Very well. Let's go Jaina." He said as he offered his hand to Jaina to ride at the back of his massive wolf, Snowsong. She gladly took his hand and rode on the back. And they started to head towards their outposts.

* * *

**"Argh! Another defense outpost!? Bah! I'll get this done quickly." **Ragnaros said as he sighted the outpost. As he neared the outpost, he noticed two recognizable figures. Namely, Thrall and Jaina.

**"So, the Earth Warder finally decided to intervene. Hahaha. This will be a worthy battle." **He said as he got nearer.

"You shall stop there Ragnaros! You shall not go any nearer to the World Tree!" Thrall shouted.

**"Ha! Nothing can stop me, pathetic orc!" **He boasted. He then charged to the outpost only to be stopped by a massive rock suddenly coming out of the ground and hitting him in the head.

"That's just a warning you vile elemental. Stop or I will be forced to use all my might against you!" Thrall warned.

**"You think you can scare me? Hahahaha! Let me show you true fear!" **It roared as it charged again towards the defenses of the night elves. Thrall tried the same attack again. But it was blocked this time. Jaina joined in with the battle, quickly casting a blizzard to slow the Firelord down. The attack was effective, as it froze part of it's body. Ragnaros slammed his hammer to one of the towers, destroying it completely and killing a few archers.

"Ballistae! Attack!" A newly arrived Tyrande ordered. Several giant arrows followed his statement. They all impaled the Elemental to several parts of its body. Making it roar in pain and pure rage. It started smashing everything nearby. Killing several elves.

Thrall quickly called upon air and water to help him against the raging elemental lord. They replied to his request by creating a huge water tornado that hit Ragnaros, severely weakening him.

Jaina followed Thrall's attack up with a Cryoblast, freezing a part of Ragnaros' body. And started to attack him with a barrage of arcane bolts and frost bolts.

Tyrande started to call upon the moon to help them, her request was granted when arcane stars began to fall from the sky and slam against Ragnaros.

Several dragons joined in with the fight. Vrostigos himself attacked Ragnaros with a devastating arcane explosion.

They are quickly overpowering Ragnaros. He tried to attack them with firebolts and alike, but the water, arcane and frost barrages kept him from doing so. The ballistae kept on shooting at the Firelord, he is severely weakened now, and in a matter of seconds, it's fire was completely snuffed out.

"It is over Ragnaros." Thrall said.

**"NEVER!" **He roared as his whole body burned again, this time... with Fel Fire.

"What!? How can this be!? Fel fire!?" Thrall exclaimed, shocked.

**"Hahaha, you feeble mortals think of yourselves powerful. The Old Gods will consume this world and many others!" **He laughed maniacally. **"Now! Feel the wrath of The Ragnaros!" **He shouted as he started to burn everything that it sees. Several druids jumped out of the way, but some managed to get caught in one of the Fel bolts. Then, the Firelord suddenly conjured a huge fireball, and threw it at Thrall and Jaina. Thrall and Jaina managed to leap out of the way, but the shockwave the explosion created both made them fly and land on the ground face first. They both stood up quickly and faced the corrupted Elemental Lord. Jaina summoned 10 water elementals to defend both of them. They all merged into one, creating one giant water elemental. Tyrande started to unleash a barrage of arrows with little to no effect. Vrostigos continued to attack him with cryoblasts. Thrall kept his assault as he swung Doom Hammer, causing lightning balls to be launched towards Ragnaros.

**"Hahaha, so you think your pathetic attacks could stop me? Bah!" **He roared as he unleashed a stream of flame at the water elemental. The gigantic water elemental began to shrink in contact with Ragnaros' Fel Flame. It tried to retaliate with a tsunami, but the water almost instantaneously evaporated. Ragnaros suddenly unleashed a cataclysmic attack that was like a giant pyrobomb towards the water elemental, making it evaporate instantly and knocking all of the others on the ground off their feet. He followed it up with another pyrobomb which is aimed towards where Jaina and Thrall are. Jaina quickly put up a frost shield to both of them, it did absorb the intense heat. But not the shockwave caused by the explosion. Jaina was launched into a nearby tree, hitting her head and knocking her unconscious, a large rock flew from the ground towards Tyrande because of the explosion, she managed to dodge it however. The rock hit a nearby tower, making it fall towards the priestess, knocking her unconscious. Thrall on the other hand, just hit a destroyed tower's debris. He slowly got up from the debris and picked up his hammer.

**"Hahaha. You Earth Warder will fall just like the other." **Ragnaros taunted as Thrall was getting up.

"The other!?" Thrall exclaimed.

**"I am referring to the foolish brown-skinned orc who wielded a pathetic axe! Haha, he thought he could take me! He fell alongside the Arch Druid Malfurion and another human!" **He said.

"You... killed Garrosh!? RAAARGH!" Thrall roared as his eyes glowed bright light blue, the skies suddenly darkened following his statement. He raised his hand and brought it down, creating a tornado just next to the Firelord. Then, he charged his hand with lightning and called upon wind, then aimed at Ragnaros, and unleashed a devastating attack, a very thick tornado with lightning streaks as think as a tree's bark was coming from Thrall's right arm and is heading quickly towards Ragnaros. The attack severely weakened the great elemental and made it stagger back at the sheer power of the attack. The tornado lasted for 15 full seconds before dissipating. By the time it was over, Ragnaros is severely weakened by the attack, however, he still lives.

**"Hahahaha! Is that all you got Earth Warder!?" **Ragnaros taunted.

"RAARGH! I'M NOT YET FINISHED! EAT THIS!" Thrall roared as he raised both his hands and made 2 more gigantic tornadoes with lightning streaking around each of them. Ragnaros tried to counterattack with a fireball but it just got extinguished instantly. All of the tornadoes beared down on the Firelord, putting the fel fire out completely. The tornadoes kept on bearing down on him for a full 10 minutes before completely dissipating. Nothing was left of the firelord except for his hammer and his armor. When it was all over, Thrall fell on his knees, using Doom Hammer as a support to keep from falling face first on the dirt. He then roared in anger and in exhaustion.

"Earth Warder, are you well?" Vrostigos asked as he approached the orc. Thrall looked at him with a look of sadness. "Do not lose hope World Shaman. Garrosh may still be alive. We must hurry if we are to save him!" Vrostigos stated. The dragon leaned down so that Thrall may climb on his back. When the warchief is secure on the back of the dragon, Vrostigos ordered his companions to tend to Jaina. And so, they flew towards Ashenvale, towards the destroyed defensive outpost...

_**A few minutes later...**_

Vrostigos and Thrall just landed on the ruins of the Ashenvale outpost. All they saw is a charred mess. Several orcs and night elves have fallen into battle. They quickly searched for any sign of life.

"Help..." Someone whispered. They quickly tried to find the source of the sound, and found it into one of the tower wreckage. They quickly removed the debris to rescue the man. They pulled him up to find out that he is an orc.

"Throm-ka warrior. Good to see you survived." Thrall greeted.

"Throm-ka warchief... Thank you... for rescuing me." The orc said. His chest got some bloody wounds and some burns here and there.

"Hold on warrior. Let me heal you." Thrall ordered. The orc stood as still as he can possibly be. Thrall called upon the spirits to heal the orc. His request was granted when green energy suddenly enveloped the orc, effectively healing his wounds.

"Thank you Warchief." The orc said.

"Have you seen Hellscream?" Thrall asked worriedly. "We've been looking for him." He added.

"I have last seen him fighting Ragnaros. That's only what I remember." He informed. Then they heard someone groaning nearby. It seems to be coming from a large root.

"Who might that be? Perhaps it's Garrosh. Come on!" Thrall ordered as he ran towards the root. He tried to lift it up to no avail. "Help me lift this large root!" Thrall shouted. Vrostigos and the orc helped him lift it up, and with their combined strength, they managed to lift it up only to reveal Malfurion Stormrage.

"My thanks to you, Earth Warder." Shan'do said as he was helped up by Thrall.

"Have you seen Garrosh, great druid?" Thrall asked.

"I... have last seen him when he tried to engage Ragnaros without ice armor. He got singed as he got close. But that does not end there. He was grabbed by the Firelord, further burning him, then he threw him... there." Malfurion said as he pointed towards a nearby tree, where a badly burned orc is lying near it.

"Garrosh!" Thrall shouted as he ran towards his body. The orc wasn't even breathing. "We are too late... I... should've been there." Thrall said. He then roared in grief and pure sadness. They left him alone for a while to grief for his fallen friend. That is, until the dragon interrupted.

"Thrall, this tauren is still alive." Vrostigos said as he flew towards them. With him is a massive tauren who is none other than, Baine Bloodhoof. The tauren appears to be unconscious as the massive dragon carefully leaned him against a tree. Vrostigos quickly healed the tauren, and after a few moments. The tauren woke up.

"Wha-what... What's happening?" Baine managed to utter. He glanced around the place before he set his sight upon Thrall. "Warchief... Thrall?" he spoke.

"Yes, it is I Baine..." Thrall answered.

"What happened? And... why do you seem sad?" The tauren asked. Thrall simply looked at Garrosh's body. And as Baine followed his gaze, he noticed he was gazing upon the corpse of his dead comrade.

"I don't think its much of a loss Warchief..." Baine stated. "He did nothing more than to drive the Horde to the ground. He even temporarily drove Lady Jaina Proudmoore insane! And most of all... He killed my father!" Baine added.

"Still, he's a warrior of the Horde, a warchief of the horde to be exact. His untimely death will cause our warriors morale to lower." Thrall answered.

"But, still. He's more trouble than he's worth don't you think Warchief? We can't let his death slow us down. The legion is coming. And we don't want a warchief who will just stand around and not defend his people because of the death of a war monger." Baine replied.

"I guess you are right Baine." Thrall said sadly.

"Now, let us search for the others. As I see, Arch Druid Malfurion Stormrage is here. But we are missing another individual, Bolvar Fordragon. Let's go search for him." The tauren chieftain suggested.

"Yeah, let's go." Vrostigos said. They began their search for Bolvar, and soon found him lying face first on the dirt, near another tree.

"He's still alive. Heal him." Thrall ordered. The dragon did as he was asked and healed the human. He soon began to regain consciousness as his wounds began to heal.

"Wha-what...? What the... hell just happened?" Bolvar exclaimed.

"Glad to see you well, Lord Bolvar." Malfurion commented.

"Likewise, Arch Druid Malfurion." Bolvar replied. Upon noticing Thrall, he asked. "I see you have returned Warchief. How goes your expedition towards Nagrand?"

"It turned out well, Greatmother Geyah agreed to send a part of the orcs there to defend the refugees from any threat they may encounter." Thrall replied.

"And, what of Ragnaros? Have you defeated him?" He asked.

"Yes, we have successfully defeated the elemental. But, it also comes with heavy casualties. Namely, the death of Garrosh Hellscream." Thrall replied sadly.

"I'm sorry for your loss Warchief." Bolvar said as he shot him a look of empathy.

"Now, if that's settled. Let's go back to Hyjal and discuss our next course of action." Malfurion said. Vrostigos started casting a teleportation spell but was interrupted by Thrall.

"I must bring Garrosh's body so that he can be properly buried in Orgrimmar." Thrall stated. He ran towards the corpse of his fallen comrade and carried it on his shoulders. Then they all teleported towards Hyjal.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, in Northrend...**_

"Our defenses are ready, master. We are just awaiting further orders from you." Kel'thuzad told Arthas.

"Very well, we must await the Legion's return here in Northrend." The Lich King replied. They are currently in the Icecrown Citadel Halls of Reflection. And are just about to discuss their plans against the Legion.

"So, any news regarding the Legion?" Arthas asked as he removed his crown.

"None at the moment master. But we dd receive news from our scouts in Ashenvale." Marwyn said. Everyone present instantly perked up following his statement."Well, apparently, the firelord, Ragnaros tried to burn Nordrassil to the ground for some reason but he got defeated by an enraged Thrall. Also, Garrosh Hellscream is dead." Marwyn said.

"How the hell did the World Shaman defeat an elemental lord!? Obtaining such a feat is quite remarkable. We need to be careful around that orc now." Rivendare commented.

"Remarkable indeed." Arthas said. "This is obviously connected to N'zoth. He probably ordered Ragnaros to destroy the World Tree."

"I agree with the master. N'zoth did side with the Legion. So it totally makes sense." Falric stated. And so, they continued to discuss their plans in the arrival of the Legion. And a few minutes later, they were finished. Arthas dismissed them all except for Falric and Marwyn who remained by his side.

'I have a feeling that, when the Legion arrives. It will be a long fight...' Arthas thought to himself as he sat on his throne.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, in the Maelstrom...**_

**"The ritual is finally finished! I am free!" **A voice roared as it laughed maniacally. **"Now... Azeroth is going to be mine..." **It said as it laughed again.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
****And there goes another chapter for you guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thing are really heating up now don't you think?**

**Next chapter will soon be uploaded because I have more free time. Please leave a review, and follow the story if you like it. And if you really like the story, then please add it to your favorites. Again, thank you for reading and have a good day. See you all in the next chapter.**

**~Adieu~**


	4. The Return of The Burning Shadow

**Author's Note:**

**Hello again! Here's the next chapter. But here's a recap first...**

**Before that... Thank you for Darkwysper and Firebranden for following my story.**

**Previously on Scorched Earth...**

**All of the leaders ordered evacuation towards Outland. Meanwhile, Thrall went to Thunder Bluff to warn Baine about the return of the Legion. The tauren chieftain hesitantly evacuated his kin to Outland. Then, Baine went to Hyjal along with a few of his best taurens to help in the defense of Nordrassil. Thrall then went to the Blasted Lands.**

**When Baine arrived at Ashenvale, he saw a great battle, wherein the Twilight's Hammer are overpowering the Night Elves. He quickly ordered his taurens to charge and attack the cultists. And, in a matter of minutes, they have gained the upper hand. That is until a roar sounded in a distance and a gronn leaped out of the forests. The creature quickly turned the tides. He killed several of the defenders. That is, until the orcs arrived in the scene, led by none other than Garrosh Hellscream. The warchief quickly jumped on the back of the gronn and slashed away. Kazi conjured an ice spike and threw it at the creature, piercing its chest and making it roar in pain. Garrosh suddenly jumped high up in the air, and as he is falling down, he made a huge vertical slash at the gronn, making it bleed profusely and killing it.**

**The next day, the champions are planning their defense against Ragnaros The Firelord. When suddenly, a scout appeared out of nowhere saying that Ragnaros has arrived. They are teleported by Kazi towards the defensive outpost to help in the defense. Kazi quickly enchanted them with frost armor, rendering them resistant to the tremendous heat that the firelord produces. They all charged towards the firelord, attacking him with everything in their arsenal. Garrosh slashed at the elemental's fiery skin followed by Bolvar, which enraged Ragnaros. He charged himself up and unleashed a wave of flame, destroying their frost armor utterly and rendering them vulnerable. Malfurion casted Entangling roots on the elemental, constricting it. He released another wave of fire, burning the roots, Bolvar created a divine shield just in time to block the wave. The elemental hurled a huge fireball on the shield, making it flicker. Then, Ragnaros summoned his sword, Sulfuras. They quickly reinforced their shield with their own magics, as they all knew full well what was about to happen. Ragnaros slammed his hammer to the reinforced divine shield, destroying it and making a shockwave that floored all of them. The elemental slammed his hammer again, but thankfully, no one was hit.**

**Kazi froze both of the hands of Ragnaros, it began to melt quickly. The elemental retaliated with another smash of his hammer. Kazi managed to avoid it, but not the shockwave that caused him to be launched to a nearby tree, making his head bleed. But it was not enough to knock him unconscious. A druid healed his injuries quickly. Kazi quickly channeled as much energy as he can to his staff and created a huge ice ball high up in the air. Ragnaros tried to destroy the ice ball, but Garrosh slashed at him again. He tried to smash the orc but kept on missing. Baine roared in rage and stomped his foot on the ground, making a huge sharp rock punctured out of the ground and impaled Ragnaros. He roared in pure agony as he pulled himself out of the rock. By the time he did, Kazi's ice bomb is ready to be launched. He ordered them all to fall back to the barricades and take cover, they all did except for Kazi and Malfurion who casted engtangling roots again, making the firelord heavily vulnerable for the devastating Ice Bomb.**

**Kazi raised his hand and his staff, and launched the ice bomb towards Ragnaros. It exploded upon contact, encasing the firelord in ice. They all celebrated their successful defense when suddenly, Ragnaros' body began to light up again, and the ice encasing him shattered to pieces. The firelord charged at the defenders and one by one they fell.**

**Thrall, Jaina and Vrostigos along with the sentinels and a few blue dragons are waiting at Nordrassil's base. In a few moments, the firelord arrived. They all attacked Ragnaros, Tyrande suddenly arrived with a couple of Ballistae. They all fired at the firelord. They attacked Ragnaros' with a barrage of arcane and frost attacks and soon, the fire of said elemental is completely snuffed out. After a few moments, Ragnaros burned up again, but this time, with fel fire. He quickly took down most of the defenders except for a few. Thrall got enraged when Ragnaros mentioned that he killed Garrosh, which made Thrall attack the elemental furiously and soon defeating him. Then, they tried to find the fallen heroes. They found them all, though Garrosh Hellscream died in the battle.**

**Meanwhile, in Northrend. The Scourge has just finished preparing their defenses.**

**Meanwhile, in Maelstrom. The Old God, N'zoth is finally free and is now making its way towards Kalimdor.**

* * *

**The Return of the Burning Shadow**

_**One week after the Elemental Showdown...**_

The champions gathered at the base of Nordrassil again, with them is an asleep Kazi.

"I wonder when he'll wake up." Jaina thought aloud. Like a queue, Kazi all of a sudden moaned. Then, slowly did his eyes open.

"Ugh... What.. happened?" He asked.

"Ah, archmage Kazi, glad to see that you are alright." Thrall said. "You are on the base of Nordrassil. A week ago, you pushed yourself past your limits, and you passed out. I have been told of what you have done, you managed to freeze the Firelord with a single spell. That's quite a feat." He commented.

"Still, it... was not enough to defeat him." Kazi replied as he pulled himself up in a sitting position.

"You did your best Archmage." Jaina said sincerely.

"Oh and, we found this on your bag." Bolvar said as he held up an emblem. Kazi's eyes widened at the sight of said emblem on somebody else's hand. "Mind explaining what this is?" He added. A long pause followed his question before the archmage finally decided to speak and answer his question.

"That emblem, as you may have guessed, is the emblem of The Empire of Daresia." He said hesitantly.

"Empire of what?" Jaina asked.

"The empire of Daresia. We are a secret organization who specializes in high-tech weapons and magic." He explained.

"Who leads the said empire?" The paladin asked curiously.

Another pause followed his question. "I do." Kazi replied. "I am the emperor of The Empire of Daresia." He continued.

"What are the motives of this empire?" The paladin asked again with a serious look on his face.

"We train people of any race. That's all I can say." Kazi replied.

"How big is this... empire?" Thrall asked.

"We've got a few members. Only a chosen few are allowed to join. And only a few know about the existence of this empire." He answered.

"Your empire would be a great help in the defense of the Legion. Perhaps you can ask for reinforcements here in Nordrassil?" Jaina suggested.

He thought for a moment before he nodded. "I would ask them now." He said as he stood up and grabbed his bag. He rummaged through the contents before he pulled out a scroll.

"What's that? That's nothing I've ever seen before." Bolvar commented as he eyed the scroll curiously.

"Ah, its a scroll of messaging. Just say the incantations then say the name of the person or persons you want to message, then say the message. The scroll will disappear then appear in their hands as a piece of paper with the message on it." Kazi explained.

"Fascinating." Jaina commented. Kazi then read the incantations, said a few names and uttered his message. Then, the scroll unsurprisingly disappeared.

"Now, we'll just wait for them." He stated.

* * *

**_Meanwhile in Northrend..._**

Arthas has been watching over their defenses personally to make sure there isn't anything wrong. His lieutenants stood beside him when suddenly, a scout came out of nowhere.

"Master, we've sighted... a portal forming down... on Howling Fjord and demons are pouring out of it!" The scout said between breaths. "They will arrive at Icecrown in a day." He added.

"Let them come! Let them taste the fury of the scourge and the wrath of the Lich King!" Arthas roared as he raised Frostmourne up in the sky, causing lightning to strike upwards from his sword. "Kel'thuzad! Prepare our defenses! They have finally come." He ordered.

"Yes, master." Kel'thuzad said as he walked towards their main line of defense and started to shout orders at them.

* * *

**_Meanwhile at Howling Fjord..._**

"The Lich King mocked the legion long enough! It's time we kill him and his army of ghouls! He may think of himself mighty! But they wouldn't stand a chance against the might of the Legion!" Kazzak the Supreme said as he raised his sword, The Warblade of Archimonde, causing the demons of the Legion to roar in determination and rage. They slowly made their way towards Icecrown. They encountered a few trolls here and there. Some are wise enough to back away from them, but some foolishly tried to fight them. They were quickly taken care of. Suddenly, a flying death knight flew and swung his sword, a blizzard followed his swing. Then thunder started to strike the demons, breaking their formation.

"Hahaha! I'll see you in Icecrown." The death knight said. It was none other than Arthas himself.

"Kill him!" Kazzak ordered. Several shadow bolts and other projectiles followed his order. Arthas just dodged all of them and flew away. "Argh! I'm going to kill you Lich King! Even if it takes an army to do so!" Kazzak roared.

* * *

**_Back in Icecrown..._**

Arthas has just arrived from Howling Fjord. He attacked a few demons and provoked Kazzak.

"Master, why did you do that?" Kel'thuzad asked.

"You'll soon find out." Arthas simply replied as he laughed malevolently. "Are the defenses ready for the Legion?" He asked.

"The defenses are ready as you ordered master." The lich answered. Arthas nodded in approval and once again, gazed on their defenses.

* * *

_**Meanwhile back at Nordrassil's base...**_

The sound of a portal opening sounded behind them. They all turned to look at the portal to find the three people walking out of it. Kazi quickly walked towards them. The three bowed their heads and said their respects and praises to him. Afterwards, Kazi motioned them to walk towards the champions.

"Gentlemen, introduce yourselves to them." Kazi said.

"I am Zhug Madhig. I am a rogue of Daresia." Said the orc.

"I am Krell Dempsey. A rifleman of Daresia." Said the one of the riflemen.

"I am Gevanson Peaker. A rifleman of Daresia." Said the other.

"Nice meeting you gentlemen." Thrall said.

"So, these are the reinforcements you asked for. They'll be assisting us in the defense of the Legion." Kazi stated.

"Very well." Bolvar said. He then briefed them of the situation. Said everything they need to know then shook their hands. An hour later, A messenger ran towards them.

"Lord Bolvar. The Burning Legion has arrived! They are currently attacking Northrend!" He informed them.

"Argh... Okay. Thank you." Bolvar replied. The messenger then bowed his head and left. Bolvar pulled out a scroll and uttered an incantion. In a moment's notice, a ten knights appeared right in front of him. The presumed leader approached Bolvar.

"Greetings Lord Bolvar. We have come as promised. I presume you need our help?" The knight asked as he dismounted his horse.

"Yes, Svilen. I need your help in defending the Nordrassil against Legion." He replied.

"Nordrassil you say? Okay. We'll aid you in the defense against these unholy beasts! You can count on us." Svilen said.

"Now, prepare your knights captain Svilen." Bolvar ordered. Svilen saluted, Bolvar saluted back. Then, he made his way to the assembly of knights.

* * *

_**The next day... in Icecrown...**_

The Legion has arrived during the dawn, and the scourge are now doing their best to defend against the Legion.

"Do not falter my warriors!" Arthas shouted as he raised Frostmourne to the sky and caused lightning to strike upwards, only to strike back down towards the demon, but this time, with several more bolts of lightning.

"Lich King! I have come to end your reign!" Kazzak said as he charged in the front lines towards Arthas. Several undead attacked him with frost bolts. But he just shrugged their attacks.

"Hahaha. You think you can take me in a single battle? I'll make you regret ever approaching me!" Arthas roared as he charged to Kazzak. Kazzak did the same and before long, they were in a full fledged fight.

"Argh! Pathetic mortal! Take this!" The doomlord roared as he swung his sword in a wide arch. He hit nothing as Arthas simply jumped back and avoided the attack. The Lich King retaliated with a barrage of frost bolts, making the doomlord stagger back. He followed up his attack quickly, he jumped and made a huge cleave from Frostmourne, making a huge wound on the demon's chest. Though Kazzak is huge, it gave Arthas advantages and disadvantages.

"You will pay for that!" Kazzak said as he unleashed a shadow explosion. It hit Arthas squarely, knocking him back. The demon tried to follow up his attack with a slash from his warblade, but much to the surprise of Kazzak, Arthas blocked it with Frostmourne. Frost started to lick its way to the blade. Kazzak quickly pulled his sword away from the undead king. "How dare you try to corrupt the Warblade of Archimonde with-" Kazzak was not able to continue as Arthas struck the demon with lightning several times. Then followed it up with a frost nova, weakening the demon.

"It's time for you to die!" Arthas said as he charged Frostmourne up with as much runic power as he can, then jumped up at the massive doomlord. Kazzak raised his sword quickly to block the attack. As Arthas swung Frostmourne, it collided with the warblade, making runic magic to explode in every direction and causing the doomlord to lose his grip on his weapon. The warblade went out of his grasp and landed several meters away from the two. Kazzak ran to retrieve it, but Arthas quickly unleashed a powerful runic attack, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground. The demon tried to retaliate with a stream of fel fire. Arthas quickly countered the attack with a stream of frost, both struggled to overpower each other's attack, but Arthas' attack ultimately overpowered his attack and hit Kazzak square in the face. The demon roared in pure agony. The fallen paladin ran at the demon at inhuman speed, but to his surprise, the demon kicked the Lich King away, knocking him on the ground. The demon quickly ran to retrieve his sword. But Arthas hit him with bolts of lightning, stunning him for a short amount of time. It was enough for him to make a huge slash on his leg, making him fall on his knees and clutch his leg.

"Argh! You pest!" Kazzak shouted. Arthas quickly followed up his attack with flurry of slashes on his other leg. The demon made another scream of agony. Arthas jumped high up in the air, and fell down with his right foot first. As he was falling down, his foot was struck with lightning and his whole body got electricity coursing through it. He hit Kazzak with his right foot in the back, making a huge shockwave and cracking the ground. A sickening crunch was heard as the demon finally stopped moving. The Lich King raised Frostmourne in the air. Which made all of his minions shout in frenzy as they witnessed Arthas' jaw-dropping fight with the Doom Lord. He finally had time to survey the area. He noticed that there are only a few demons remaining. They have defended against the Legion's invasion successfully. Though he knew that this is probably the first wave.

He then set his sight upon the fallen doom lord. He suddenly smiled malevolently. "He will be a worthy ally of the scourge. But first..." He said. He raised Frostmourne up in the air and channeled as much magic as he can. Then, he aimed it at the corpse of the demon. Magic shooted out of the tip of Frostmourne and encased the demon. Green light enveloped the body of Kazzak. "Arise! In the name of the Lich King!" He shouted as he intensified the magic he's channeling. Soon, Kazzak's body rose up and looked around, obviously confused. His appearance hasn't changed much. His wings turned gray so did his body. He retained everything except for his color.

"Why am I... alive?" He asked, confused. He looked at his hands and saw they were grey in color. His jaw dropped in surprise as he checked his whole body and realized that his body was all grey. Then he set his sights upon Arthas. "What did you do to me?" He asked.

"How does it feel like to be undead Kazzak?" Arthas asked. The demon looked uncertain for a moment before he responded.

"I... don't feel anything. Except that I must serve you and no one else." He replied. Arthas smiled at his response, then he made his way towards his warblade. It had remained intact during the battle. He started to channel magic to the sword. And soon, the sword is corrupted, instead of the usual blue color on some parts of the sword, it turned to green, and the skulls' eyes are glowing green. The sword is now enchanted with the power of necromancy. Arthas carried the sword without signs of difficulty despite his size and the size of the sword. He made his way towards Kazzak.

"I believe this belongs to you." Arthas said before he handed the warblade to him. Kazzak looked grateful for a moment before he looked at Arthas and thanked him. Then, a few moments later. Kel'thuzad approached him.

"Master, should we raise them from the dead?" Kel'thuzad asked.

"Yes, you should. And repair the damages caused by the demons quickly." Arthas ordered. The lich floated to the necromancers and ordered them to raise the said creatures from the dead. 'They would surely bolster our forces.' Arthas thought to himself.

* * *

_**Somewhere in Icecrown...**_

"What the hell!? Did Arthas just kill Kazzak!?" An orcish rogue asked.

"That's really impressive." One of the riflemen said.

"And he even raised him from the dead!" Said the other rifleman. Then he suddenly ducked when one of the necromancers looked their way.

"Argh. I suggest we go back to Nordrassil quickly before they discover us." Said the rogue. The other two nodded in approval and started to run down the mountain they were at. Suddenly, a group of crypt fiends burrowed out of the ground, right in front of them. They jumped back in surprise. The rogue quickly concealed himself, rendering himself invisible. The riflemen fired at the fiends, killing 4 in a matter of seconds. The rogue reappeared behind the fiends and killed one after another with his knife. Moments later, all of them were killed. But not before alerting the whole scourge about their presence.

"Shit! Zhug! Create us a portal now!" One of the riflemen ordered. The rogue, Zhug, rummaged through his pack and found nothing.

"Uhh... I kinda lost it somewhere..." Zhug said.

"What!? Argh! I guess we have no choice but to fight them. One of you send a message to Emperor Kaztarel about our current situation." The rifleman who seemed to be their leader said.

"I'll do that." Said the other rifleman as he pulled out a scroll from his pack and did the same procedure Kazi did with his scroll of messaging. Moments later, an army of undead surrounded them, led by none other than Lord Darion Mograine.

"Hahaha. How foolish of you three to venture out here alone. This barren wasteland will be your grave." The death knight said as he approached the three. They all raised their weapons as the undead army approached them slowly. They have no ways of escaping. Just as Baron was about to bring his sword down to them. Someone intervened.

"Stop!" A booming voice sounded.

"King Arthas?" Baron asked. He was surprised by the intervention of his master from killing these three, and was really confused by his actions. Arthas walked towards the three, the other undead backed away from the three as Arthas approached them.

"What brings you three here?" He asked curiously. The trio backed away from the Lich King as he approached them slowly. They looked at each other as Arthas approached them. Soon however, they bumped on a rock, and it prevented them from backing away any further. They looked at Arthas fearfully as he drew Frostmourne and smiled. He impaled the ground beside him, much to the surprise of everyone present. The undead looked at him curiously as to what he is going to do next. Then he pulled the sword from the ground again and channeled magic through it. Then, he pointed it at the three. They closed their eyes as the magic hit them. But when they felt nothing, they slowly opened their eyes and realized they are at the base of Nordrassil again. They blinked several times before they realized that everything is real.

"What... just happened?" Zhug asked. Neither of his companions answered his question. They all have the same question in mind. Kazi approached them after a few minutes of standing in the same place.

"I did not expect to see you guys very soon. I just received the letter from Krell saying that you guys are surrounded by undead, and that Zhug here lost his teleportation scroll." Kazi said. Zhug looked at his companions. They all have dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"I don't even know how we got here in the first place." One of the riflemen said. Kazi just shot them a look of confusion.

"I think you three need to rest. We'll discuss this matter tomorrow." Kazi suggested. "I set up a temporary headquarters for us nearby. It's complete with a bathing area, a resting area and everything else. And, you all should get a shower. You guys smell like death." He commented as he covered his nose. The three just shrugged and made their way towards the temporary headquarters. Sure enough, they sighted a building with their emblem on the front, clearly indication that it is theirs. Once they entered, they immediately made their way towards the showers.

_Few minutes later..._

All three came out of the showers. And for some reason, the orcish rogue is holding a showerhead on his hand.

"What the hell Zhug? Did you break something again?" Krell asked. The orc just looked at them and shrugged before he threw the showerhead on the bathroom floor. Then they headed to their resting place and went to sleep.

* * *

_**Meanwhile... in Icecrown...**_

"Master, why did you let them go?" Baron asked, confused by his master's actions.

"Are you questioning my actions Baron Rivendare?" Arthas asked as he directed his gaze at the death knight. The death knight looked at him fearfully.

"Master, I never doubted your actions. Forgive me if I made you think that I do. I'm just curious as to why you let them go unharmed." He answered.

"Very well then. I let them go because... The Burning Legion is our primary concern for now. Consider all others... neutral in the meantime." The Lich King answered as he sheathed Frostmourne. "Now, go back to business! Repair the damages! Resurrect the demons from the dead and turn them into undead! GO!" He ordered. His minions quickly did as they were told.

* * *

**_The next day..._**

The three Daresian lieutenants just woke up when someone knocked on the door. Gevanson woke up first and decided to answer the door, he noticed that his companions aren't awake. He quickly went to the door and opened it, a night elf is standing there.

"What can I do for you miss?" He asked.

"Arch Druid Malfurion Stormrage and the other champions requests your presence at the base of Nordrassil immediately." The elf said.

"Okay, thank you. I'll just wake my companions up and we'll go there as soon as we can." Gevanson said. When the night elf left, he quickly closed the door and approached the two. For some reason, Zhug has the showerhead again with him.

"Wake up! We are requested to attend another meeting on Nordrassil. Come on! Get up! Quickly!" He said as he kicked Zhug awake. Zhug just rolled in place and faced away from him. He then crouched down, and slapped him in the face, making the orc gawk in surprise. "Wake Krell up. We are requested to attend a meeting at Nordrassil immediately." He said as he went to the bathroom and washed himself. Krell came second and Zhug came last. After they dried themselves up, they quickly wore their gear and made their way to Nordrassil. When they arrived, they sighted an assembly of well known individuals and new arrivals. Namely, Sylvanasm Saurfang and Archmage Khadgar. Upon sighting Sylvanas, they immediately knew what this was about.

"Ah, finally. They are here." Kazi noted as he looked at them. They exchanged an uneasy glance at each other before they approached the assembly. "So, as promised. We will discuss what really happened yesterday. Start off by your report on Icecrown. Sir Gevanson?" He said.

"So, we witnessed the battle of the undead against the legion. And, from what we saw, Kazzak the Supreme was there." Gevanson started.

"Kazzak the Doom Lord?" Saurfang asked curiously. "That being is of tremendous power. Do continue." He added as he looked at them with curiosity.

"So, Kazzak was leading the army of demons towards Icecrown when suddenly, Arthas, along with his horse is flying overhead. And attacked them with bolts of lightning and with a blizzard." He said.

"Bolts of lightning? Since when did Arthas have shamanistic powers? Or something like that?" Sylvanas asked.

"Arthas doesn't have shamanistic powers. But Ner'zhul does. Ner'zhul was a great shaman. So, its a possibility that Ner'zhul granted him his powers too." Saurfang answered. Sylvanas just nodded at his answer and fixed her gaze on Gevanson again.

"So, what happened next?" Kazi asked.

"It took a day before they arrived at Icecrown, when they got there, they were met by an army of undead. The undead instantly attacked the demons. Then Kazzak himself charged at Arthas and tried to kill him. After a fierce battle between the two, Arthas managed to come out victorious." He explained. Everyone present were obviously surprised at the news. Sylvanas was quick to voice out her surprise.

"What!? Kazzak is one of the most powerful lieutenants of the Legion! How can Arthas beat him!?" Sylvanas exclaimed.

"It does not end there milady. Arthas resurrected him from the dead and made him one of his lieutenants." He added. Everyone's jaw dropped in disbelief. "He even enchanted the Warblade of Archimonde with necromancy. Kazzak wields it currently." He said.

"That's quite a surprise. Though that makes the undead a greater threat than before. Kazzak alone is hard to defeat. Yet Arthas fought him and killed him singlehandedly. And, with that demon on their side, who knows what they could do now." Malfurion commented. The comment got nods of approval from everyone.

"I say we march at Icecrown and kill Arthas." Sylvanas stated.

"That would be suicide milady. We are no match for a force that vast, let alone Arthas himself." Saurfang said.

"The orc is right. I don't want to waste our forces on a suicide mission." Khadgar said. Silence followed his statement. "Anyways, Sir Gevanson. I believe you are not yet finished with your report. Please continue. This matter greatly intrigues me." The Apprentice said.

"So, as I said. He ressurected Kazzak. Then, they started repairing the damages the legion caused and ressurected the demons, when suddenly, one of the necromancers sighted us. We hid, or at least... tried. However, crypt fiends burrowed out in front of us as we are making our escape. We took care of the fiends, but it is too late. The others are now closing in on us. We are surrounded by undead, with Baron Rivendare leading them. As he was about to bring his sword down, someone suddenly interrupted his attack. It was none other than Arthas." Gev said. Sylvanas raised her eyebrow. "So, Arthas approached us, we backed away from him, but soon, our backs are against a huge rock, preventing us from backing away any further. He drew his sword, Frostmourne and started channeling magic on it. He pointed it at us, and... magic shot out of its tip and enveloped us. And the next thing we knew, we are back here." He added.

"He didn't kill you? That's strange." Varok commented.

'He didn't kill them either. I wonder what's going on with Arthas' mind right now.' Sylvanas thought to herself.

"What is important is that you three are safe and in one piece." Kazi said, smiling at them. "From here and on, you three shall now be known as Triumvirates." He said. The three bowed their heads.

"Now, with that aside... We just received reports that the Legion pulled back and are now heading towards Icecrown. Looks like they set the Lich King as their primary objective." Malfurion said.

"We have more time to prepare now." Zhug commented. Krell and Gev were quick to facepalm at his comment.

'Way to state the obvious.' Gev thought to himself.

Then, orders were quickly given, and they carried out their orders as quick as they can as they prepared for the arrival of the Legion.

* * *

_**Back in Icecrown...**_

Arthas and a few of his most trusted lieutenants along with Kazzak are overseeing the reconstruction of some buildings around Icecrown. Several were damaged during their defense against the Legion. His lieutenants are eyeing the doom lord warily, clearly they still don't trust him. A scout approached them.

"Master, we've spotted another portal on Howling Fjord! Demons are pouring out of it again. They are constructing a settlement there! And... Kil'Jaeden is also there." The scout reported.

"Kil'Jaeden eh... Finally he has come." Arthas said as he smiled evilly. He then faced his minions who are currently repairing the damages. "Double time the repairs! We need to prepare for another invasion of the Legion!" He shouted. The ones repairing the damages quickened their job. 'I don't know how we will fare against Kil'Jaeden himself.' He thought to himself. He looked at Kazzak who is staring in the horizon absentmindedly. 'I don't know if I can trust him either. Damn.' He thought. "Kil'Jaeden himself is coming! He'll find more of the scourge than he expected!" He roared.

* * *

_**Author's note:**_

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, pretty intense. Stay tuned for the next chapter. I'll see you in the next one! Adieu, mon'amies.**

**~Fifty Foot Ant**


	5. The Great Defense

**Author's Note:**

**Greetings reader! Here's chapter 5 for you all. But before that, I would like to let you guys know that I changed "Thrall" to "They" on the summary since this fanfiction's main character is not Thrall anymore. The main characters are now the champions and Arthas. So, with that matter aside... Here's a recap for chapter four...**

**And to clear things up, I did say that Daresia is technologically advanced. So it's natural they have a showerhead.**

**Previously, on Scorched Earth...**

**A week has passed since the events of the "elemental showdown" and the champions are currently resting at the base of Nordrassil and Kazi is asleep. He woke up after a few moments. Bolvar showed him his emblem, which they undoubtedly got from his bag. Kazi explained to them a few details about Daresia. Jaina suggested that he request for reinforcements on Nordrassil, which he did. He used a scroll of messaging to inform his most powerful and skilled members.**

**Back in Northrend...  
The Legion has just arrived at Howling Fjord. They started their march towards Icecrown to destroy the Lich King once and for all, Kazzak the Doom Lord leads the said army. Suddenly, Arthas flew above them and attacked them with a blizzard and a lightning storm, effectively killing a few demons. They tried to retaliate but Arthas just dodged all of their attacks.**

**Back in Nordrassil...  
The sound of a portal opening sounded behind the champions. They quickly turned to look at them, who are identified to be the reinforcements Jaina requested to Kaztarel. They introduced themselves to be Zhug, Krell and Gevanson.**

**The next day, in Icecrown...**

**They have finally arrived at Icecrown, and they are now assaulting their defenses. Kazzak charged at Arthas and engaged him in a single battle. The battle ended with Arthas winning. Then he raised the great demon from the dead and corrupted the Warblade of Archimonde, the scourge has successfully fended off the Legion. An hour or so later, while they were converting the dead demons to undead, a necromancer sighted a group of three spying on them. They quickly sent Crypt Fiends to kill the spies, but the fiends were killed. As the three are making their escape, an army of undead surrounded them, led by Baron Rivendare, just as they are about to kill the spies, Arthas stopped them and teleported them away, back to Nordrassil, back to safety.**

**The next day...**

**The three reported to the champions. They informed them of what happened to Arthas, and everything else. Then, Kazi named the three "Triumvirates". Back in Icecrown, Arthas was just informed about the arrival of another wave of demons led by none other than Kil'Jaeden, they are currently making a settlement on Howling Fjord...**

**Okay folks. Here's chapter five, "The Great Defense", enjoy...**

* * *

**The Great Defense**

The undead army have finally finished repairing the damages that the previous attack has caused. Arthas made sure that everything is going well.

'My champion, Kil'Jaeden and his demonic army is now making his way here, they are now leaving the settlement.' Ner'zhul said telepathically. Arthas nodded. 'Remember Arthas, if all else fails, don't you ever let them kill you. Escape. Flee!' Ner'zhul almost shouted.

'Nothing would fail Ner'zhul. Not on my watch.' Arthas said coldly.

'Just be careful Arthas.' The orc shaman said.

'In how days or hours would they get here?' He asked.

'Soon, it may be a day or less.' Ner'zhul replied. The fallen prince just nodded in response. He approached Kel'thuzad.

"Are the _special weapons_ I asked you to install in Naxxramas and several other necropolises ready to be used?" He asked.

"Yes Master. They can be used anytime during the battle. We will just be waiting for your command and they will be fired." The lich answered.

"Very well. Are all the demons raised from the dead and are sure not to betray us during the war?" The Lich King asked.

"That is something that we cannot guarantee master. But, I'll vouch most of them won't." Kel'thuzad replied. He just nodded in response to the lich. "Is everything alright master? You seem... troubled." The lich asked inquisitively.

"I'm... alright. Don't worry." Arthas said as he sighed. He then removed his helmet and ran his hand through his silvery hair. "You may leave now, make sure the weapons will be ready against Kil'Jaeden and his demons." He said. Kel'thuzad bowed his head before he left. He took a deep breath before he put on his helmet again. 'Prepare yourself Kil'Jaeden. For you will experience the full might of the Scourge and the Lich King!' He thought to himself.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, at Howling Fjord...**_

Kil'Jaeden and his forces are now preparing for their attack against the Lich King. The great eredar is watching his minions prepare for the attack when a scout approached him.

"Lord Kil'Jaeden, we have received reports that they saw Doom Lord Kazzak with the Lich King! However, he seems to be undead and serves the Lich King!" The scout informed.

"That isn't a surprise... You may leave now." He said in a surprisingly calm tone.

"Lord Kil'Jaeden, wouldn't Kazzak prove to be a threat? His powers are great and with the Warblade of Archimonde at his disposal, he's almost unstoppable! However, it surprises me that the Lich King managed to kill him in a single battle, and he ever raised him from the dead!" The dreadlord, Mephistroth said.

"Yes, he might prove to be a threat. But he will answer directly to me. And no one else!" The eredar roared. "I'm going to take back the Warblade. It shall not belong to an undead demon!" He added as he stomped his foot on the ground, creating a huge crack. Several demons turned to look at him fearfully, but quickly resumed to whatever they were doing.

"What of the World Tree? Why did we attack the Lich King first?" Mephistroth asked.

"The frail elves will be easy to take down. However, the Lich King is supposed to be killed by Kazzak, but it seems its the other way around. After we drive the scourge to the ground, we will attack Nordrassil as soon as possible." He replied. "Tomorrow, we shall attack! And the enemy, shall fall." He said. "Besides, The Nightmare is already on his way there. He is to destroy the defensive outposts around Nordrassil." He added as he laughed.

"The Burning Shadow... Comes to consume all." They said unanimously as while laughed malevolently.

* * *

_**Back at Nordrassil's Base...**_

The night elves are currently preparing their defenses against the Legion. Many are motivated since they have more time to do so, and the fact that they are going to attack Northrend made them even more motivated. The Legion might do them a favor after all. But it still doesn't cancel out the fact that the Legion is still a huge threat, so they are preparing their ultimate defense against the Legion, and now that they have N'zoth as their ally, makes them even more of a threat.

The champions themselves are helping in the preparation. Malfurion, Kazi and Jaina is using his magic to fortify their defensive towers and such when a someone approached them.

"Arch Druid Malfurion, someone attacked the outlying outpost in Ashenvale, some have gone mad only at the sight of the said creature!" The elf said. He is obviously panicking.

"Okay, calm down. Emperor Kaztarel, can you send the Triumvirates to take care of this threat?" Malfurion said.

"Of course. I'll find them right away." He said as he walked away to find the three. He found them a moment later, cleaning their weapons under the shade of a tree, with them is Varok Saurfang.

"Triumvirates." He greeted. The three stood up and saluted. Saurfang merely greeted him with a look of acknowledgement. "At ease. There is a threat somewhere in Ashenvale. I trust you three can take care of it?" He asked.

"Sure thing, Sir Kazi. We will depart immediately." Sir Gevanson said as he motioned for the other two to come with him.

"I'll be going too. It's not like I have something else to do here other than watch the elves prepare." Saurfang said as he stood up and grabbed his axe. He then summoned a wolf companion and rode it. "Grab your mounts. I wouldn't like to walk there." He suggested. The Triumvirates quickly called their horses. And so, they rode away, towards the Ashenvale outpost.

_Few minutes later..._

The Triumvirates and Saurfang has finally arrived at the outpost.

"By the light! What the hell is that!?" Zhug exclaimed. The four could only gawk in horror as they set their sight upon the attacker. The armored... creature has a fiery horn on its armor, with red glowing eyes visible beneath its helmet. His chest is replaced with a two maws, in between those maws is a ball of energy which somehow kept its body together. Its right shoulder has two horn protruding out of it, and its hand has only three large fingers. Its feet only has two fingers in the front and a single finger on the back of the foot. The sword is unlike anything they have ever seen. The sword looks like a very large claymore, the grip looks like its made out of rock, and the pommel is shaped like a bat. The guard of the sword is large, with what looks like a spikes on both sides of it, and a glowing eye in the middle of the guard. The blade of the sword looks like its made out of hardened fire, and inside of the blade is another blade, which is made out of what looks like magma, on the chappe of the sword are four small eyes, and the magma is coming out of the inside of the fuller. The sword itself looks like its alive, and it has veins inside of the blade.

**"Hahaha. You dare approach me!? You probably don't know who I am!" **The humanoid being taunted. **"Well then, let me introduce myself to you... I, am the Nightmare! I am the Azure Knight! The one who haunts the Dream! I am darkness incarnate! I am N'zoth!" **The being roared as he raised his blade high up in the air. He laughed malevolently as he brought down his blade on the ground, creating a huge darkness shockwave, knocking those nearby down to their feet. The Triumvirates and Saurfang quickly took cover to a nearby tree.

"We are no match for that thing! We need reinforcements!" Saurfang shouted.

"I got that covered." Krell stated as he pulled out a scroll. "Cover me. Don't let him get-" He was cut off when an explosion sounded behind the tree and destroyed the tree completely. He managed to leap out of the way however.

"Damn it! What should we do?" Zhug exclaimed.

"Okay, Krell, I need you to go as far as possible and message Emperor Kaztarel by this threat. We'll hold him of as long as we can." Gevanson said. Krell nodded and started to run away from the scene, after he has gone far, Gevanson came out of cover and started firing at the Nightmare. it doesn't seem to have an effect on him as he shrugged off his attacks. Saurfang soon joined in, he charged at the... knight.

Saurfang swung his axe to the Nightmare's head, but he simply blocked it and punched the orc in the face with his mutated arm, knocking him back. The Azure Knight followed it up with a vertical slash from his massive sword, but Saurfang ducked under it. The orc retaliated with a kick to its foot, flooring him. Just as he is about to bring his axe down on him, the orb in his chest glowed brightly, and exploded, sending him flying to a tree and knocking him out. Nightmare seems to be unharmed by the explosion as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Lord Saurfang!" Zhug shouted.

**"Hahaha. Pathetic. One down..." **It taunted as he approached them intimidatingly. Zhug suddenly appeared behind him, but just as he is about to bring his dagger down, N'zoth grabbed him with his mutated arm and threw him at Gevanson, knocking them both down on the ground. Just as Nightmare is about to bring his sword down on them, someone suddenly pierced his stomach from behind, making him howl in pain. He immediately turned around to see a man. The man has blonde hair and is dressed in a blue polo, with a red vest and black long sleeves with a red line in the middle of the sleeve underneath his polo. He has blue His belt holds a leather padding which wraps around his stomach and he has a long red sash underneath the said padding which flows down to his knee behind him. He wears dark violet pants with a thick red line on the sides. He has blue boots with a golden strap. He holds a long rapier which he points at the Nightmare.

"Your reign shall end! I will no longer tolerate your existence!" The man shouted.

**"Hahaha... You think you can take me on? Hahaha. Who are you exactly?" **N'zoth asked.

"I am Raphael Sorel. I am the one who will kill you." Raphael said. he charged towards the Azure Knight. The Old God quickly tried to intercept him with an overhead slash from his massive sword. The fencer just sidestepped his attack and slashed his knee, and kicked him in the face, easily flooring him. He slashed at the Nightmare's head, but his attack was blocked. The Nightmare quickly stood up and tried to cleave his enemy. It managed to slash his shirt, but it did not draw blood.

**"Argh! Enough of this!" **Nightmare roared as the orb of energy on his chest glowed and blasted Raphael with a beam, effectively making him fly to a tree. Nightmare laughed at the effectiveness of his attack but his celebration was short lived when someone slashed him on his back and strangled him. It was none other than Zhug. However, as his skin made contact with the Old God's, it burned. He screamed in pain as he withdrew his hand from Nightmare. **"Haha, insolent mortals. You can never stand a chance against me!" **He taunted as he punched Zhug in the face, hard. It made him fly a few feet back. Gevanson started shooting at him, this time, with explosive rounds. He turned his attention towards the rifleman, who backed away as he charged at him. Gev tried to leap out of the way, but was caught with his mutated arm. He started choking him as he raised him in the air. Then threw him after a few moments later to a tree. Knocking him out. He laughed malevolently. **"Who's next?" **He asked.

"You are!" Raphael shouted as he did a flying kick. It was successful as Nightmare got knocked back. "Hahaha. Now you'll see..." He shouted as he performed an uppercut with his rapier, sending the enemy flying up in the air. "The extent of my power!" He shouted as he stabbed him three times, and then delivered a powerful finishing stab as rose petals flew around him. He then laughed as Nightmare stopped moving and breathing. Suddenly, Nightmare's body started to glow and his wounds began to heal. He quickly jumped up and charged at them, at inhuman speeds. He knocked all three of them to the ground.

Zhug quickly stood up, and made himself invisible. However, for some reason, Nightmare managed to see him and deliver a devastating cleave to his chest, nearly killing him. He staggered in place, but finally, Nightmare brought him down with a powerful punch.

"NO! Zhug!" Gevanson shouted as he rushed to his friend's aid. Nightmare quickly unleashed a beam of pure darkness to Gev, hitting him square in the chest, knocking him out.

**"You are alone human. Give up. And I will spare your life..." **He said.

"Never..." Raphael said as he charged at him again. This time however, Nightmare was prepared. His orb just glowed and unleashed another shadow explosion. It made Raphael lose his footing. He slowly stood up and raised his weapon.

**"Hahaha... Give up." **Nightmare stated. Raphael shouted in rage and charged towards him again. The Azure Knight is about to do the same trick again but was interrupted by a sudden slash from Raphael's rapier. He tried to hit him again with a thrust, but the nightmare just parried it. Then, all of a sudden, Nightmare grabbed Raphael and pierced him on the chest with his massive blade, severely weakening him, he coughed up blood as he hung on his sword. The Azure Knight swung his sword, sending him flying. **"Still alive eh? Let me fix that..." **Nightmare said as he approached him. In one last attempt to at least damage Nightmare, Raphael thrust his rapier to the eye of his sword. The sword suddenly howled in pain, so did Nightmare. The fencer could only watch as the sword howled and howled. However, he was not able to see what happened next when he finally lost consciousness.

* * *

_**A few minutes later in the destroyed outpost in Ashenvale...**_

Several night elves, with Krell, Kazi and Bolvar leading them finally arrived to the outpost only to see the Triumvirates, Lord Saurfang and a human knocked out. The human and Zhug were both gravely injured, they are both bleeding profusely.

"What the hell happened here!?" Kazi exclaimed. "Quickly now! Heal them!" He ordered. He himself summoned holy light to heal Zhug, but instead of healing him, it made his skin burn. "What the!?" He exclaimed, surprised. He turned to look at the other gravely injured man, Bolvar was trying to heal him but his skin just burned when he did.

"What is this? Why is his skin burning when I tried to heal him?" Bolvar wondered aloud as he examined the human's body. It's slowly losing its color, turning deathly pale. "Is he... turning to undead!?" Bolvar exclaimed as Raphael's skin continued to lose its color. Kazi turned to look at Zhug. Much to his surprise, Zhug's body is also losing its green color, and is turning really pale.

"What now? We can't heal them! They might die!" Kazi said.

"They won't die. However, there is no telling what might happen once they are fully transformed." Bolvar said as he stood up and walked away from the fencer. "It's only Zhug and this fencer who are affected. Sir Gevanson and Lord Saurfang are fine. But we have no choice Emperor Kaztarel... We have to leave the two here." Bolvar stated.

"Never! No one is left behind Lord Bolvar!" Kazi shouted.

"Yeah! We will never leave him here!" Krell added.

"You have to consider the things that may happen Emperor Kaztarel! If they turn into undead, what do you think may happen? They might attack us! I don't want to kill one of my allies!" Bolvar said.

"There's still a chance that they won't Lord Bolvar!" Kazi argued. "We can't just leave them here!" He added.

"We have to! I wouldn't want to kill someone who is my ally and gave his life for the good of Azeroth!" Bolvar shouted. He was clearly getting more and more frustrated. "Think clearly emperor Kaztarel. Even you don't have the heart to see someone who you know personally get killed by either you, or someone else." He stated calmly as he took a deep breath. A really long pause followed his statement.

"Argh... I'd hate to leave you here Zhug, but... I have to." Kazi said sadly. "Thank you for everything Mr. Showerhead. You will be missed." He added. Then he stepped back and did a salute, everyone soon followed.

"He was a great man..." Krell commented as he turned and walked away.

"I'm, so sorry for your loss Emperor Kazi." Jaina said. Kazi could only look at her mournfully. Jaina hugged the man as he mourned at the loss of his friend. She patted him on his back as a tear escaped his eye. "Its okay..." She said as he tried to comfort him. Kazi pulled away after a few moments of mourning.

"Umm... Thank you." He said. He managed to make a small smile. Jaina gladly returned the smile.

"Now, if you lovebirds are done. We must go to Nordrassil now. We have much to do." Bolvar said.

"Wha-what!? Lovebirds? What are you talking about? She is merely comforting me!" Kazi exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah. I heard that before. Now, let's go." Bolvar said.

"I swear-" Kazi started but was interrupted when he was pulled by Krell. He shot him a look of surprise, but Krell just rolled his eyes and pulled him harder. Soon, they are on their mounts and are ready to go.

"This is ridiculous." Kazi thought to himself as they rode back to Nordrassil.

* * *

_**Several hours later...**_

"Argh... what is... happening?" Raphael asked to nobody in particular. "Is... this the so called... heaven?" He thought aloud as he surveyed his surroundings. It was already nighttime. All he could remember is that, he experienced a great deal of pain on his chest. Then he realized that he is still on Ashenvale, it all came rushing back to him. He was fighting Nightmare, and he got stabbed on his chest with the massive blade, Soul Edge. Then he pierced the eye of the sword, and he could see Nightmare howling in pain, before he faded out of consciousness. Realization hit him as he looked down on his chest, no scar, no wound, just a huge hole on his shirt. "I... should have been dead. Why am I alive? And, where is the wound?" He thought aloud, then he noticed an orc nearby, laying unconscious. He quickly stood up and ran to the orc. His skin is... unlike the common orcs. His skin should be green, yet it is deathly pale. Then, he noticed his skin also is really pale. "What the hell!?" He exclaimed. The orc suddenly groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He quickly jumped back at the site of him.

"Whoah! What! Undead!" Zhug exclaimed. He reached for his dagger and held it up defensively.

"Whoah, whoah. I am not your enemy. Don't you remember anything Zhug?" He asked.

"How did you..." He started but stopped when he noticed his arms, they are also deathly pale. "What did you do to me!?" He roared.

"I did not do anything to you! Nightmare, did this to us." He explained. Zhug's eyes suddenly went wide like saucers.

"How... how can I be alive?" He asked.

"Even I don't have the answer." Raphael replied. "I must go. Adieu." He said as he ran off.

"Hey! Wait! Don't leave me alone!" Zhug shouted. But it was too late. Raphael is already gone. And he is alone, in the middle of the forest, at night. "Damn it." He told to himself. "I guess I have to camp out alone... In the forest... At night..." He added. "Crap."

* * *

_**The next day...**_

Zhug woke up with a start, his body is completely drenched in sweat, and he's got tears in his eyes.

"What... the hell was that?" He thought to himself as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. "Okay, time to go back to Nordrassil." He thought to himself as he stood up and started walking. 'This is gonna be a long walk...' He thought.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, at Icecrown...**_

"Master, Kil'Jaeden and his minions have arrived." Kel'thuzad said.

"Let them come! This is the hour of the Scourge!" Arthas roared. "Ready the special weapons! They must be ready to be used anytime." He ordered.

"Yes Master." Kel'thuzad replied. They are currently in Naxxramas, and are preparing everything needed to hold off the Legion's assault. Arthas then walked outside of the necropolis and to the highest part, where he can be seen by the undead scourge. He raised his sword, causing lightning to strike from the tip of the sword to the sky.

"The time has come! The Legion came to destroy us! But, they will soon find out that we will be the one doing that! Not them! Prepare your weapons! The Legion has finally arrived!" He shouted to the crowd. Cheers and roars of excitement followed. They are obviously frenzied. Then, an explosion sounded nearby, signaling the arrival of Kil'Jaeden and the Burning Legion.

"Your petty ghouls wouldn't stand a chance, Lich King. You are going to be consumed by the fire of the Legion. So will your army of undead." Kil'Jaeden shouted while laughing evilly. "Your time has come!" He roared as he unleashed a shadow explosion to the defenses of the Scourge. The demons charged at their defenses, undead forces quickly intercepted them, and a full blown war started. Then, someone flew overhead and started striking the demons with lightning and shooting frost bolts around the place. It was none other than Arthas and he is riding Invincible. "Arthas, now is the time for your demise." Kil'Jaeden said as he unleashed a barrage of shadow magic at the Lich King. He quickly flew around to avoid the attacks and retaliated with a bolt of lightning, which hit Kil'Jaeden to the chest. It made him flinch, but it was not enough to cause serious damage. But Arthas still wasn't finished. He quickly erected a thick arcane and frost shield around him, blocking all of Kil'Jaeden's attacks as he flew towards him. He charged Frostmourne with as much runic power as he can. The eredar knew what was about to happen, so he put a shield around himself too. As Arthas was in range, several bolts of lightning struck Frostmourne, further powering it up. Then, he unleashed a cataclysmal slash which got through the eredar's shield and made a huge slash at his chest. It made him roar in pain as he clutched the wound. Arthas laughed malevolently at the effectiveness of his attack.

"If you survive my defenses, i'll be waiting." Arthas said as he laughed and flew away.

"Damn you Lich King! This is not over yet!" Kil'Jaeden shouted.

_Meanwhile... on the battlefield..._

The demons are fighting against the undead's defenses valiantly, however, they cannot get through their defenses easily because of the powerful land units that are holding them back. Anub'arak himself is defending in the front lines, so are the four horsemen, and several other powerful undead.

"Ye demons are nothin' against us!" Thane exclaimed as he slashed another Fel Guard. Baron is currently fighting against a pit lord, and is winning.

"In the name of the Lich King!" Baron roared as he delivered a powerful slash which broke the annihilan's weapon and slashed him across the chest, making it bleed profusely and allowing him to deliver another slash towards the head, effectively chopping its head off and killing it.

"You demons should not have come!" Zeliek shouted as he unleashed a beam of pure light at a demon, burning him. Then he slashed a nearby demon with his runeblade, and another, and another. He was obviously frenzied.

"Feel the venom of Nerub!" Anub'arak roared as he impaled a nearby demon, killing it. A pit lord charged at him and tried to hit him with his weapon, but he simply stopped it with his bare(bug?) strength. "Surprise." He said as he drove his claws to the chest of his attacker, several times. Then, a dreadlord came and attacked him. He quickly evaded his claws and tried to retaliate, but his attack was also blocked.

"Glory to the Lich King!" Kazzak the Supreme roared as he slammed his warblade at the demons. It killed a few demons in an instant. "Burn!" He shouted as he breathed out fire from his mouth, burning the demons below.

"So, you are the infamous Anub'arak..." The dreadlord said as he laughed and avoided another thrust from the bug. "I shall introduce myself to you, I am Mephistroth. I will be your worst nightmare." Mephistroth said as he charged and started to claw away at the massive insect. Anub'arak tried to avoid the attacks, but was unsuccessful as the dreadlord was too fast for him. He tried to retaliate with a few thrusts here and there, but was unsuccessful. Soon, the insect has several claw marks and is bleeding profusely. "I have expected more from you. But-" He was cut off when a colossal blade slashed his right wing, making blood and frost come out of it. "What!? Who-" He was cut off again when he was kicked by Deathcharger in the face, making him stagger back. He quickly tried to retaliate with a barrage of frost bolts at Baron, but he quickly created a frost shield, blocking his attacks. All of a sudden, the dreadlord blinked right in front of Baron and pummeled him, destroying his frost shield and knocking him out of his steed. "Now, you will pay for your interference." He said as he brought down his claw. Baron held his attacker's clawed hand, stopping the attack completely. The colossal death knight smiled evilly as he pulled and threw him towards Anub'arak, who's claws are prepared for the dread lord. It impaled him from the back, making him howl in pain. Baron added to his suffering when he impaled him with his own bastard sword on his chest, and then pushed the sword upward, making it come out from his shoulder. The dreadlord could only scream in pain and agony when Anub'arak started to bite onto him, injecting him with venom. Soon, Mephistroth stopped moving and Anub'arak threw him to the ground, where he lay lifelessly.

Kil'Jaeden himself started to walk towards the front lines and obliterated the Lich King's defenses easily.

_'Fall back to Naxxramas!' _The Lich King's voice sounded telephatically towards the undead in the front lines. They quickly did as they were told, but not before unleashing a frost barrage at the massive eredar, it slowed him down considerably, but it did not stop him completely. He quickly took notice that the undead are falling back, and he ordered all of the demons to push through them. They did as they were commanded, but were still held at bay when someone unleashed a massive frost attack at the demons, freezing them in place and shattering them after two seconds. Kil'Jaeden quickly looked to where it came from. He locked down on the source to find that it was the Lich, Kel'thuzad. The one who summoned Archimonde to this world in the first place.

"You will pay for this you puny lich!" He roared as he threw a massive shadow bolt at the lich atop Naxxramas. Kel'thuzad looked at it surprised and help his hands up, he created a frost shield which blocked the attack easily.

_'Everyone who can use frost magic! Create a thick ice barrier that would become impenetrable by all demons except for Kil'Jaeden!' _Arthas' voice sounded to all the undead minions. They did as they were told and quickly channeled as much frost magic around the perimeter of their defenses. After a few minutes, the shield rose up and blocked everyone from entering and exiting out of the perimeter. The ice is approximately thirty meters thick. Impenetrable by anyone except for Kil'Jaeden. Some demons were trapped inside, but they were quickly taken care of.

"Now! Prepare the weapons! All necropoleis arm the weapons! When Kil'Jaeden breaks through, he'll be in for a surprise." Arthas ordered. Several necropoleis started to buzz with activity. Cannons came out of the doors, windows and all possible exit points. Then, they started to arm the said cannons.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._**

"What the hell are they doing? They think that ice shield would stop us! We'll prove them wrong! Destroy that shield!" Kil'Jaeden ordered. Several pit lords, doom guards, and those with muscle started pounding on the shield to no effect. After ten minutes of pounding to no effect, Kil'Jaeden himself approached the shield. "Pathetic wretches! Do I have to destroy this myself!?" He shouted. He then charged his hand with shadow magic and pounded on the shield, creating a crack on it. Demons decided to help him as they unleashed fire to melt the shield. And in one final smash, Kil'Jaeden brought his hand down to the shield, shattering it completely. The scourge looks like they have assembled themselves and are now in defensive formations.

"Kazzak! You will pay for-"

"NOW!" Arthas shouted. The sound of cannons being fired can be heard as the cannons launched harpoons towards the eredar. He fell to his trap easily. The harpoons pierced his skin and embedded themselves at him, preventing him from running away.

"If you think this will stop me, then you are wrong!" Kil'jaeden stated as he started pulling the necropoleis towards him.

"I hope you like lightning!" Arthas said as he raised Frostmourne in the sky, making it glow, a few moments later, lightning struck at the chains connecting the harpoons to the cannons, electrifying Kil'Jaeden. It made him roar in agony. The Lich King, along with several of his minions, cackled at the effectiveness of their attack. "Now! Let's finish this!" Arthas said as he rode Invincible and flew towards the eredar. The Deceiver quickly took notice of this and with his strength, broke the chains connecting his body to the necropoleis. Then he started casting shadow beams at Arthas, but to his surprise, he just avoids them. When Arthas was in range, his enemy started to try to crush him, but he evades his attacks skillfully. Then, the fallen prince raised his hands and started to hit him with lightning bolts. Howling in pain, Kil'jaeden raised his right, ducked down and slammed his hand on the ground, causing a massive explosion that caused an earthquake and cracked the ground, and caused fire to erupt out of nowhere and engulf him in a pillar of flame. The Deceiver roared in anger and pain.

"I had enough of this!" He roared. "Its time for this petty war to end! Say goodbye Lich King!" He roared as the fire suddenly exploded outwards, burning everything in its path and killing anything within the vicinity...

* * *

_**Meanwhile... back in Nordrassil...**_

Kazi is still mourning for the loss of his friend. And Jaina is trying her best to comfort him.

"He was a good friend. Though somewhat crazy, he's still a good friend." He said as another tear escaped his eye.

"Emperor Kazi, never let vengeance cloud your judgement and engulf your heart." Thrall told him as he looked at him emphatically.

"I never will." He assured. Then they heard commotion in one of the outposts. Thrall and Bolvar quickly went to look what it was all about while Kazi and Jaina were mourning.

"You should let me in! I am one of them!" They heard one of them say.

"One of them? You are undead and I don't remember any undead allied with any of the champions there." One of the sentries said.

"You must believe me! I-"

"What is this all about?" Thrall's booming voice interrupted.

"Warchief Thrall. Lord Bolvar. This undead is trying to get in saying he-" One of the sentries started but was interrupted by the undead.

"Warchief Thrall! Lord Bolvar! Surely you must recognize me!" The undead exclaimed. Thrall and Bolvar exchanged looks of confusion. They approached the undead who has several arrows on him. It was none other than Zhug.

"Zh-Zhug? Is that really you?" Bolvar asked confusingly.

"Yes, it is I Lord Bolvar." The undead, Zhug, responded.

"Why? How?" Thrall asked.

"I have been turned into this... monstrosity by The Nightmare of the Abyss. All I could remember is enduring a grievous slash from his blade. Then being punched in the face and finally fading out of consciousness. Then, the next thing I know is that I woke up, with Raphael looking down at me." Zhug explained.

"Raphael? Who is that?" Bolvar asked.

"Ah, he is the one who helped us fight against Nightmare. Really mysterious though. He just popped out of nowhere and stabbed Nightmare in the back. He actually saved me and Gevanson from getting our heads chopped from our bodies." He said as he reminisced the scene where Nightmare was looking down at them with his blade ready to hit them. He quickly shook his head at the thought. His body shivered as he remembered the face of Nightmare.

"Well, we are glad to see you well lad. I think you must rest." Bolvar said as he waved the sentries off. "By the way, Kazi is pretty sad about your supposed death. Pay him a visit before you rest." He told him. Zhug nodded in agreement. As they reached Nordrassil, Zhug can't help but notice how... close Jaina and Kazi are.

"Lord Bolvar, what is in between those two?" Zhug asked inquisitively. Bolvar just laughed his question off.

"Go, pay him a visit. He'll be happy to see you." Bolvar said. Zhug nodded and started to make his way towards them. He poked Kazi on the shoulder, making him turn his head. His eyes widened in surprise, joy, and a little of, horror.

"By the Light! Have you come to haunt me Zhug!?" Kazi asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Haha. Emperor Kazi. It is I. I am... well, basically alive." Zhug stated.

"Its you!" Kazi exclaimed and leapt at him to hug him. Jaina looked at them with a sweet smile.

"Glad to have you back Zhug." She said, smiling.

"Thank you milady." He answered.

"Wait... how did you survive? Last I saw you, you have a grievous cut to the chest." Kazi asked curiously.

"Well, I.. don't know. I just woke up and all the pain is gone. Not a scar is even left on the cut. But... as you can see. I am now undead. Will you still welcome me to Daresia?" He asked sadly.

"Of course. You will still be a member." Kazi said. "The Triumvirates are now complete. Go pay a visit to Sir Gevanson and Sergeant Krell, they are on our HQ." He told him. Zhug saluted before he left to pay them a visit.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And there goes another chapter! Thank you for reading. And I hope you enjoyed this one. Full of action and a little of romance. What happened to Arthas and the Scourge now? Are they going to die? Find out in the next chapter. Sorry if I left you guys in a terrible cliffhanger. And sorry for the long wait too. And as always...**

**Adieu, mon'amies...**

**Edit:**

**Okay, so, I just received a private message from someone. (Not mentioning his name for privacy's sake.)**

**He told me that this story has some similarities at Melkor's Mercy's Defying Death. Why is that? Because this story is heavily inspired by the said story. I'm not changing what is already written, but I will be removing some elements that I would have been putting.**


	6. Fall of the Scourge

**Author's Note:**

**Greetings again reader! Sorry for the terrible cliffhanger on the last chapter. Anyways... here's a recap...**

**Previously, on Scorched Earth...**

**The undead army are repairing the damages that the previous attack caused. Arthas is making sure everything is going well. Ner'zhul warned him that Kil'Jaeden is now leaving their settlement and are now making their way to Icecrown. Arthas assured him that nothing would go wrong.**

**Meanwhile... At the Legion Settlement, at Howling Fjord...**

**Kil'Jaeden and his forces are preparing for their assault at Icecrown. They are currently discussing their plans. When Mephistroth asked why they attacked Icecrown first, he just told him that Nightmare is going to take care of Nordrassil, or at least, destroy the defensive outposts there.**

**Meanwhile, at Nordrassil's Base...**

**All of the champions are helping the night elves prepare their defenses against Kil'Jaeden and his Legion when a scout approached them and informed them of a great threat on one of the defensive outposts in Ashenvale. Kaztarel Darrensier quickly sent the Triumvirates to take care of it. Varok Saurfang decided to tag along. When they arrived, they fought a mysterious swordsman claiming to be N'zoth himself. Gevanson ordered Krell to send a message to their emperor, and he did so. The ones who remained did their best to hold the Nightmare off. Saurfang was the first one to be taken down when the orb on Nightmare's chest exploded, launching him to a tree and knocking him out. Zhug appeared behind him. But just as the orc tried to deliver a dagger to his neck, Nightmare grabbed him and threw him to Gevanson, knocking them both down on the ground. Just when he was about to kill the two, someone pierced him from behind, distracting him enough. They soon started to engage in another fight. Raphael used a skill, named Royal Vexation, it left Nightmare with several cuts and killed him... temporarily. His wounds began to heal as his body began to glow. He attacked them at inhuman speeds, knocking them all down on the ground. Zhug quickly stood up and rendered himself invisible. For some reason however, Nightmare managed to see him and delivered a devastating cleave to his chest, nearly killing him. Zhug staggered in place before he was finally brought down by a powerful punch in the face with his mutated arm. Gevanson came to rescue his friend, however, a powerful beam of pure darkness blew him away and knocked him unconscious. Raphael tried to take him alone, but was ultimately defeated. Just as Nightmare was about to kill him, Raphael pierced the eye of his sword. Making him howl in agony. A few minutes later, Kazi, Kazi, Bolvar and a band of night elves finally arrived at the scene. They saw the Triumvirates, Lord Saurfang and another human all down on the ground, unconscious. Zhug and the human are gravely injured. They tended to both first, however, when they tried to heal them with Holy Light, their skin burned. That is when they noticed that it is turning paler and paler as each minute passed. Only one conclusion could be made, they are turning undead. Krell, Kazi and Bolvar argued as to whether to leave them or not, and after a long arguement which involved shouting, they finally decided to leave the two. Kaztarel bid his farewell before he walked away. Jaina comforted him as a tear escaped his eye...**

**Several hours later...**

**Raphael woke up in the middle of the night, he quickly looked around and found an orc unconscious nearby. He quickly ran to him and woke him up, afterwards he quickly ran off. Leaving a confused Zhug behind, in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the night...**

**Meanwhile, at Icecrown...**

**Kel'thuzad informed Arthas that Kil'Jaeden has arrived, and a few moments later, an explosion sounded nearby, signalling the said arrival. Arthas quickly rode Invincible and flew overhead, towards the amassing demonic army. He attacked them with a barrage of frost and lightning bolts. Several demons fell, and Kil'Jaeden quickly retaliated with a shadow magic barrage. Arthas skillfully avoided the barrage and flew around him, striking him with lightning everytime he got the chance. Then, he erected an arcane and ice shield around him, which effectively blocked Kil'Jaeden's attack as he flew forward, in an alarming speed. The eredar knew what was about to happen, so he quickly created a shield for himself. It did not deter Arthas however, as he charged Frostmourne with as much runic magic as he can, and made lightning strike it to charge it further. As he is getting close, he raised Frostmourne up, and did a slash, destroying the demon's shield and making a grievous slash to his chest. Then, he flew back to Naxxramas, away from the enraged eredar, who clutched his wound as it bled. Meanwhile, on the battle below. The undead are effectively holding the demons back. The demons fought valiantly, but still are no match for the undead champions and minions. Mephistroth attacked Anub'arak, but just as the dreadlord is winning, Baron Rivendare interfered, which caused his downfall a few moments later. Kil'Jaeden finally decided to attack, he obliterated the Lich King's defenses easily. The Lich King ordered all of the scourge to quickly fall back to Naxxramas and the other necropoleis. Then, he ordered all of those who can cast frost magic to create a massive impenetrable ice shell around the perimeters of all the necropoleis. Soon, the shell was up and the demons tried to destroy it, but failed miserably. Kil'Jaeden ran and smashed the shell with his bare strength, shattering it. Arthas ordered to fire the harpoons at Kil'Jaeden, who had no time to react as the harpoons pierced his skin and armor. Then, Arthas called upon lightning to strike all the chains of the harpoons, further damaging Kil'Jaeden. The demon was visibly weakened, Arthas charged at him while riding his horse. He used the same tactic, flying around and striking him with lightning. The massive eredar roared, raised his hand, ducked down, and smashed it onto the ground, cracking it, fire came out of nowhere and engulfed his body completely, pretty much like a gigantic pillar of flame. Then, the flame all of a sudden exploded outwards, burning everything and killing anything in its path...**

**Meanwhile... at Nordrassil...**

**Kaztarel is still mourning for the loss of his friend. Jaina is trying her best to comfort him. Then they heard commotion from a nearby outpost. Thrall and Bolvar quickly went to look what it was all about. When they arrived, they saw an undead desperately trying to get in. Several arrows are embedded on him. When he saw Bolvar and Thrall, he quickly shouted their names, drawing their attention. He then told them that he was Zhug Madhig, one of the Triumvirates. They recognized him even at his undead form, and waved the guards off, allowing him to enter. He started to explain what happened to both of them, then Thrall told him to pay Kazi a visit, which he did. Kazi was really happy to see his friend alive.. basically alive, but surprised to see him to be undead. Kazi told him that he should visit Krell and Gevanson, and told him that he is still a member of Daresia and the Triumvirates...**

**End of recap...**

**Okay, so you guys ready for the next chapter? Okay, so i'm not gonna make this longer, here it is... Chapter 6...**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Fall of the Scourge**

The explosion caused flame to explode outwards, burning anything and killing anything within the vicinity. Arthas was the closest one to Kil'Jaeden, and the explosion launched him to one of the mountains. He rolled down, and down, until he fell into some sort of cave...

"Ugh... What the hell is this place?" He asked to nobody in particular as he looked around the dimly lit cave. He reached for Frostmourne and realized that it wasn't there. He cursed to himself as he desperately searched for the cursed sword. He didn't find it however. He cursed again when he realized that he won't be able to get out of the way he came in. "Wait, where is Invincible?" He asked again to nobody.

**"Hahaha. Looking for these Lich King?" **A voice sounded. He looked at the source to find a mutated armored with an orb connecting his upper and lower body. The man was carrying a massive sword, dragging a bloody horse and carrying Frostmourne. Arthas looked at him angrily when he kicked the bloody horse.

"Give my sword and my horse back..." He demanded menacingly. "Before I do something about it..." He added as he directed a death glare at the man.

**"Threatening me quickly eh?" **The armored knight said as he laughed darkly. Then, he raised his massive magma colored sword and brought it down upon the horse, killing it instantly. Invincible's soul then got sucked inside the knight's sword.

"Argh! You will pay for that!" Arthas roared as he ran towards him at inhuman speeds, he reached for Frostmourne only to be punched in the face and floored. The Azure Knight laughed as Arthas slowly got up. His eyes glowed bright blue, which lightened up most of the cave. **"YOU WILL GIVE MY SWORD BACK."** He said threateningly.

**"You think i'm scared of you? What are you gonna do?" **The mutated knight said as he laughed malevolently. Arthas said nothing as the temperature dropped several degrees in a second. Everything near Arthas froze in a second. The Lich King ran to him, at light speed. The knight tried to block another attack from him, but was unsuccessful as Arthas ducked down, went behind him, and choked him. Then, he threw him to the wall of the cave, cracking it. Arthas followed it up with a bolt of lightning, hitting him in the face, stunning him. He seized the opportunity, he grabbed Frostmourne and attacked him with a barrage of elemental and frost magic. And a few moments later, the Azure Knight lay motionless. The Lich King panted heavily from the amount of magic he used as well as from the attack he endured from Kil'Jaeden. He is about to blast through one of the walls to get out when suddenly, the knight spoke up.

**"Hahahaha... You think that would be enough to stop me? Think again!" **He said as his body began to glow again, it lighted the whole cave as his armor cracked and fell off. His whole body swelled up, and mutated. What was once Azure Armor and flesh has become of combination of armor and flesh with a reddish/orange sheen. The helmet area has grown and the muzzle covering area has been removed to reveal a lipless mouth with long teeth shown and its eyes are beady black, and are strangely glowing. At the center of his chest is a glowing core of energy which spreads out throughout its upper body. In place of his hands are a pair of giant claws and in the palms are fully functional mandibles, although this does not appear to hamper its ability to wield a sword in the least. Lastly, a slightly long tail has sprouted from the base of his spine area. Flowing from his back are a pair of large, fiery-black wings. His sword changed a lot. It now has two rows of sharp looking teeth in the fuller of the sword. **"You! Shall know your place Lich King! You cannot defeat Death itself!" **It taunted. It ran at full speed at Arthas and tried to smash him with his terrifying blade. Arthas barely managed to block the attack. They are now in a weapon lock. The terrifying creature is quickly overpowering the Lich King. The Fallen Prince let out a pained cry as he pushed back with all his might. It managed to knock the creature back a few feet, giving Arthas some time to recover.

"Who are you exactly?" Arthas asked angrily.

**"Hahaha. You managed to defeat my weaker form.. Nightmare. Now, you will face the strongest humanoid form of mine... Night Terror! I am N'zoth! And I will be the one slaying you! Lich King!" **The creature, Night Terror, shouted. It then unleashed a shockwave that destroyed the whole cave. Arthas realized that they are somewhere in the mountains of Storm Peaks.

_'Damn, Kil'Jaeden launched me this far?' _He thought as he looked around. Then, far off the distance. He saw Icecrown... all ruined. All destroyed. He tried to contact his generals, but none responded. _'Damnit! I'll check on them when I am finished with this... Night Terror.' _He thought as he directed his gaze back at N'zoth.

**"The Legion destroyed Icecrown Lich King. You have no more armies to command. And soon, you will also die. Which, might just be now..." **It taunted as it flew upwards. Its eyes glowed, and suddenly, a pure beam of darkness shot out of both of his eyes. Arthas jumped out of the way, successfully avoiding the devastating beam. And, when he looked to where the Old God is last seen, he saw him, flying at full speed, with his sword leading the way, and the sword itself, is turning at high speed. Making it look like a gigantic drill. Arthas managed to avoid the attack again. Then tried to retaliate with a slash from Frostmourne. The creature parried it with his sword, and then quickly counterattacked with a high speed horizontal slash from his giant sword, the sword glowed dark as it is swung. The attack turned out to be successful. It hit Arthas head... Blood splattered on the ground, as his face now has a gash on the cheek, and his helmet is shattered, which flew out of his head instantly after it made contact with the sword. A howl came from the helmet.

_'ARGH! My champion! Slay him! Before-' _Ner'zhul ordered before the connection was completely severed. A few moments later, a dark spirit flew out of the helmet and went inside the sword of Night Terror. It laughed malevolently as he felt himself being more powerful. However, the opposite happened to Arthas. His powers diminished. His shamanistic powers are gone.

**"Hahaha! Looks like you have failed Lich King." **Night Terror said. Then, abyssal beams came out of his eyes and blasted Arthas, or at least, tried to. He did several flips to avoid the attack, which was successful. Then, he ran at Night Terror at full speed, and attacked him at lightning speed. Night Terror, because he is a being of enormous size, had a hard time avoiding his attacks. Several got through his defenses, making several wounds here and there.

"Looks like I found your weakness Old God!" Arthas taunted as he kept on slashing and hacking away. Before he could cause severe damage however, N'zoth quickly blasted him with an abyssal beam, launching him into one of the mountains. As the dust and debris started to clear, Arthas jumped out of it, and fired a powerful beam of runic frost, effectively freezing his enemy's blade and part of his arm. Unbeknownst to Night Terror, Arthas was charging his weapon while attacking him with the runic frost beam. He kept the beam up as he ran towards him. Night Terror quickly blasted him with eye beams, which missed as he kept on running at him at full speed. Arthas roared as he swung Frostmourne at full force towards Night Terror. N'zoth managed to block it with his blade, but the force behind the swing of Frostmourne made his blade fly out of his grasp, rendering him vulnerable for any follow up attacks. The Lich King wasted no time as he delivered another powerful slash from Frostmourne, this time, hitting Night Terror's arm when he used it to block. It caused black blood to burst out of the wound. Night Terror roared in pain and counterattacked with a punch from his arm. Arthas blocked it with his sword, but the force of the punch knocked him back, the Terror followed it up with an abyssal beam which hit Arthas square in the chest, again, launching him into one of the mountains. The beast quickly flew towards his sword, and held it up in a defensive position. Then, a roar sounded from the distance, from the debris, then a laugh. Night Terror narrowed his eyes as he kept his eyes on the debris Arthas crashed on. The sky darkened, and clouds started to cover the whole sky. Hail fell out of the sky, really big hail. Soon, for some reason, the hailstorm started to get worse, and the hail, started to become shaped like spikes, which hurt the beast. Fog started to block his vision of his surroundings.

**"ARGH! Fight me and stop hiding Lich King!" **N'zoth taunted. His voice echoed through the mountains as he angrily searched for his enemy.

**"You, will regret ever provoking me."** Arthas replied, even more menacing and so terrifying, that even the bravest orc would shake and piss himself. N'zoth was not able to pinpoint his location as his voice sounded like it was... everywhere. **"How does it feel like? Not to know where your enemy is?" **The Lich King said as he laughed malevolently. This made Night Terror even angrier, as he roared and blasted the fog with his beams and slashed at nothingness. Suddenly, a huge fist of ice came out from above and smashed him. It shattered upon contact with the ground when it floored Night Terror. The beast stood up from the ground and started to blast everywhere with his abyssal beams. A few moments later, ice spikes shot out of the fog and hit him from behind, piercing his back and causing pain. N'zoth turned around and blasted the direction to where he was pierced with another beam of pure darkness.

**"I will not be subjected to this anymore!"** Night Terror exclaimed as a shockwave came from his body and blew out the fog, effectively repelling it. But to his surprise, it returned a few moments later.

**"Hahaha. You will never be able to defeat me N'zoth. No matter how hard you try. Just take a look at your sword! You are weakening! Hahaha!" **The King of the Damned taunted. It was then that Night Terror noticed a huge crack on his sword. Power is slowly but surely, seeping from the crack.

**"You can never defeat Death itself Arthas! Not even when I am weakened!" **The beast roared as he blasted and slashed at the fog. The fog suddenly started to get closer and closer, until it could barely see its hand in front of its face. It was then he realized, that the fog is freezing cold. His wings, even though entirely made out of black fire, is slowly extinguishing. But it does not end there, the fog is slowly, seeping into the wounds on his upper body. **"NO! What are you doing!?" **Night Terror roared as he desperately tried to cover the holes of his body. However, despite his best attempts, the fog still went into his system.

**"Hahaha! I can see it Old God! Fear!"** Arthas laughed. It was the first time he saw the creature with fear in his eyes. Its body started to weaken over time as the freezing fog seeped into him. The crack on his sword is also being used to get inside the sword and weaken it. The flames of pure chaos in the body of Night Terror are slowly, but surely extinguishing. It roared in anger and pain as its body continued to weaken, until it couldn't even stand on its own and had to use his sword for support. A few minutes later, it finally fell on his knees, and is barely clinging to life. It was then that the fog cleared, and Arthas is right in front of him. "Its time to finish this N'zoth." He said seriously. He then pierced the creature's chest, pulled it out and kicked the wound. It made the Old God fall flat on his back onto the ground. "Say goodbye." The Lich King simply said as he delivered a grievous slash at his neck, chopping its head off. The Night Terror's body now lay motionless on the ground, on the freezing mountains of Storm Peaks. The said body suddenly got covered in pure black and dissolved into nothingness. Arthas started to walk away, and made his way towards Icecrown. Probably in an attempt to rescue any of his minions who survived the devastating attack by Kil'Jaeden...

_**"You may have defeated my embodiment. But you will never be able to defeat me Arthas..." **_A terrifying voice said.

* * *

_**Few hours later...**_

Arthas has finally arrived at Icecrown only to find the corpses of his generals and comrades. He quickly tried to find Kel'thuzad, but to no avail. Suddenly, the sound of ground being dug could be heard, and Anub'arak came out of it, followed by Anub'rekhan and several of his generals.

"Glad you all made it." Arthas said as he looked at all of them.

"Master, where is your helmet?" Kel'thuzad asked as he inspected him from head to toe.

"I... lost it. I fought Night Terror, or should I say, N'zoth." Arthas said darkly. "I managed to defeat him, but not without enduring wounds and losing the Helm of Domination." He added.

"Should we search for it master?" Anub'arak offered.

"No, its completely destroyed. Now, let us get back to Icecrown Citadel and-" Arthas started but the earth suddenly shook under them.

"What!? What is happening!?" Arthas exclaimed. Suddenly, a huge crack formed out in front of them. And came out, is an indescribable monster. Everyone started to back away from the monster.

"What the hell is that!?" Baron asked to nobody in particular.

"Let's not wait and find out. Attack!" Arthas ordered. They all obeyed and started attacking the creature with everything in their arsenal. A barrage of frost magic is being hurled towards the beast, to little to no effect. Zeliek started to call upon the Light, and a few moments later... The sky cleared above them, and a pure beam of Light blasted the creature towards the ground. It seemed to have great effect as the creature let out a roar of anger and pain. Everyone started to support Zeliek's assault with their own magics. Thane started to blast him with flame, and Lady Blameux with shadow magic. Baron, along with the remaining Nerubians and those who don't have much magical powers charged at the creature and attacked it. As they closed in, tentacles started to erupt from the ground, and several faceless ones started to pour out of the huge crack where the creature originated from. The faceless ones ran towards the charging generals, and they are now engaged in a full blown melee battle. The scourge generals seemed to have the upper hand as the faceless ones are no match for their combined strength and skill. However, Arthas never failed to notice this, and could only think of one thing. _'It can't be! Is that... N'zoth!? _As if reading his thoughts N'zoth replied.

**"Hahaha! Yes, it is I!" **It replied. Then, the large tentacles on his body started to flail around and smash the ground, cracking it. Arthas raised Frostmourne to the sky, it glowed brightly as the clouds covered the entire sky. Hail started to fall again. However, it only fell towards the Old God and his minions. The hail is very much bigger now, each spike are at least two meters in length. Kel'thuzad started to conjure large ice spikes, and hurled them at the faceless ones who tried to come close to them.

"More lambs for the slaughter!" Baron screamed as he slashed at the enemies in front of him, several are taken down in a single slash. He laughed maniacally as he kept on killing the faceless.

"Let battle be joined!" A cry sounded from a distance. They immediately turned to see Kazzak the Supreme charging at the front lines. Arthas watched with an evil smile as Kazzak easily decimated the enemy ranks. The faceless were no match for Kazzak's strength. "And now. Join the undead army!" He roared as he raised his hand. All of the dead faceless ones rose from the dead and bolstered the undead ranks. The undead became an overwhelming force in a matter of seconds. All because of Kazzak. Several tentacles started to make their way to Kazzak, only to meet his blade, the Warblade of Archimonde. He easily slashed at the tentacles with the massive sword. A tentacle managed to sneak behind him and is about to constrict him when Arthas froze it in place, and shattered it in a whim. Soon the faceless were defeated, and all that remained is N'zoth.

**"Hahaha. So you think you can defeat me with these puny ghouls of yours?" **N'zoth taunted. It started to thrash its tentacles around wildly, preventing anyone from getting close. Zeliek started to blast the Old God with holy light, causing a great deal of pain. The Old God roared and suddenly, huge tentacle erupted from the ground just near the formation of Arthas and his generals. They all did their best to prevent any of the tentacles to be able to attack them. Arthas slashed at each, Kel'thuzad froze those which got too close, the four horsemen slashed and burned, Anub'arak bit and cut, Faerlina and Maexxna bit at the tentacles and released massive amounts of web to prevent movement on smaller ones, Kazzak slashed and hacked at the tentacles. Suddenly, one of the larger ones slammed at Kazzak's back, causing him to lose his balance, then several started to constrict him. He roared in anger and started to pull at the tentacles, ripping most of them apart.

"Argh! DIE!" The Supreme roared as he grabbed the largest tentacle and pulled at it. This surprised N'zoth as the tentacle was pulled out of the ground. Then, Kazzak threw it at one of the mountains. Much to the Doom Lord's surprise, another large tentacle came out of the ground and managed to constrict him. He had little time to react as it pulled him to the ground, into N'zoth's gaping maw. Several more hours passed as the fight dragged on, one by one Arthas' generals fell, until Anub'arak, Baron, Kel'thuzad, Zeliek and himself remained.

**"Give up Arthas! You have no hope of winning against a true god!" **N'zoth taunted. They all backed away from the creature as its tentacles approached them. Then, Zeliek made the ultimate decision.

"Master! Run! I'll hold it off!" Sir Zeliek said as he unleashed massive amounts of Holy Light to damage his opponent.

**"Argh! You think you can hold me off!?" **N'zoth roared as the tentacles started to thrash around wildly again. Several started to approach Zeliek but they quickly disintegrated as they burned with Holy Light.

"But Sir Zeliek-"

"No! Just run!" Zeliek commanded. Arthas and his lieutenants shot looks of hesitations at each other before another shout from the death knight urged them to run off. They did so this time. They ran and ran as far from the creature as they can. Zeliek looked at their disappearing forms before he faced his opponent again with determined eyes. Then, he raised his hands, and called upon the light to strike. His eyes glowed golden the whole time as he blasted the creature with Holy Light. It roared in pain as its skin burned from the assault of Holy Light. "Burn! You foul beast!" Zeliek cried as he took his assault up a notch.

**"ARGH! Stupid undead! You will regret ever attacking me!" **N'zoth exclaimed. Several tentacles burst out of the ground and tried to smash the death knight. He quickly jumped out of the way of the tentacles as they tried to hit him, constrict him, or just crush him to the ground. He drew his sword as he slashed at the smaller tentacles who tried to constrict him.

_'At least, i'll die with honor." _He thought to himself as he unleashed another blast of holy light at the approaching tentacles. He slashed, blasted, jumped, avoided everything that was thrown at him, until finally, one of the tentacls hit him and knocked him to the ground. And in one last attempt to damage the old god, he unleashed a Light Storm at the creature. Rays of light blasted the creature from the heavens, which effectively burned the tentacles and the Old God's body. Most of the tentacles that are approaching him disintegrated, and N'zoth roared in pure agony. By the time the storm was finished, Zeliek was drained, and N'zoth is still alive. Zeliek just looked up at the sky and wondered what is next, after his death. He served his master up to his last breath, and now, it finally comes to an end. He's going to be... free. '_Finally, I never thought I could be free of him...' _He thought to himself.

**"Hahaha. You honestly didn't think that would stop me did you?" **N'zoth taunted as he laughed malevolently. several tentacles constricted Zeliek's body, he didn't struggle, he just let the appendages take him to the Old God's maw.

"Your reign will soon come to an end Old God! Never will darkness triumph against the Light!" Zeliek taunted.

**"Bah! You speak as if you served someone who is holy!" **N'zoth replied. **"Though it intrigues me how you managed to wield Holy Light and use it while you are undead." **He added.

"My faith is stronger than anything else! Light never gives up on anyone!" The death knight replied.

**"Well then, tell me, where is your Light now? Is it here to save you?" **N'zoth said as he laughed. Zeliek just looked at him(?). Then, finally, N'zoth threw Zeliek to his maw.

Just as the death knight was falling to N'zoth's maw, the last thought of his was...

_"It is... as it should be."_

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**Author's Note:**

**Whooh! Another chapter finished! I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I have to rewrite it three times because of power outages, accidentally closing the tab, and again closing the tab without saving it. So, if it took long, there are the reasons why. Haha. Really hope you enjoyed this, criticism is welcome. This chapter is where Arthas is supposedly going to be killed, but I decided against it in the last minute. What will happen to the remaining Scourge generals? Will they live? Or will they still die? Leave a review, favorite the story, follow it. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed, see ya in the next chapter. I did my best to make it seem awesome. Haha.**

**Adieu, mon'ami.**


	7. The Dragonslayers

**Author's Note:**

**Hello again! Here's chapter seven, but, before that... Recap!**

**Previously, on Scorched Earth...**

**Arthas woke up in some sort of cave, with Frostmourne and his steed gone. Nightmare appeared to him a little while later, with him is Frostmourne and a wounded undead horse, Invincible. The two immediately engaged in a battle, with Arthas coming out as the victor when he unleashed a barrage of frost and elemental magic. He was about to leave when Nightmare's body began to glow, his wounds began to heal, and his body swelled up in size and became even more powerful than ever before. Its appearance drastically changed, so did his sword. They engaged in a full blown melee and magic battle. At some point in the battle, Night Terror managed to hit Arthas' helmet and destroy it, weakening the Lich King severely. His elemental powers are now gone. But he wasted no time, he ran at the beast at lightning fast speed and unleashed lightning fast strikes from Frostmourne, several managed to go through The Terror's defenses, but before the fallen prince could cause severe damage, N'zoth blasted him with an abyssal beam, launching him into one of the mountains. Arthas jumped out of it quickly and froze his enemy's sword and part of his arm. He then ran to him, while keeping up the beam, and slashed at him, which was blocked. But the force alone from the sword caused Terror's sword to fly out of its grasp. Arthas followed it up with a slash from Frostmourne, hitting The Thing in the arm, to which, it countered with a punch and another beam. It launched Arthas to the mountains again. N'zoth quickly picked up his weapon and held it up in a defensive stance. A roar sounded from the debris, then a laugh. Fog appeared out of nowhere and blocked Night Terror's vision. And the fog, freezing in temperature, seeped into the cracks of the being, slowly weakening him as the fires of chaos extinguished. Soon, N'zoth's embodiment fell on its knees, and the fog cleared, with Arthas in front of him. The Lich King wasted no time as he pierced the chest of the creature, then kicked it to the ground, and delivered a grievous slash at its neck, chopping its head off, and killing it. It then dissolved to nothingness. Arthas made his way to Icecrown...**

**He saw nothing but destruction. Suddenly, his generals came out of the ground nearby. Then, the ground shook. And N'zoth came out of the ground. And from the cracks, hundreds of faceless ones crawled out. The army of faceless quickly engaged with the undead generals. The undead wasted no time and killed anything that is not undead. Soon, Kazzak the Supreme joined in with the battle, and resurrected the killed faceless. A few minutes later, all of the faceless are gone, and the undead are now engaging the Old God. They all gave it their best, and Zeliek's attacks are most effective against him as the light burned the unholy monster. A few moments later, an enraged N'zoth started to ramp up its assaults and managed to take down Kazzak, and several others soon followed until Zeliek, Arthas, Kel'thuzad, Anub'arak and Baron Rivendare are the only ones remaining. Zeliek made the ultimate decision to hold the Old God back while the others made their escape. They all protested against it, but did as he said nonetheless. The Death Knight blasted the creature with the Holy Light, which is pretty effective, but his assault did not last forever, he soon got exhausted and ultimately got eaten by N'zoth. He bought Arthas and the others the time they needed to escape.**

**And, there goes the recap my friends. Did I make you wait long? My apologies, its really hard to find free time nowadays. Anyways, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

**The Dragonslayers**

**_Several hours after the events of the previous chapter..._**

Arthas and his companions are still on the run after they managed to escape the wrath of N'zoth. They decided to stop and plan where exactly they are going when they arrived at some forest.

"Okay... we are currently at Crystalsong. Any places we can go?" Arthas asked as he paced around. A whole minute of silence followed his question before Kel'thuzad spoke up.

"Master, we should go to Outland and take refuge there."

"Outland!? Are you mad!?" Baron asked, surprised.

"Where is your respect death knight!?" Kel'thuzad asked imposingly. The death knight did not dare to answer as he knew full well what the powerful lich is capable of.

"I don't think anyone here has a better idea than Kel'thuzad's idea." The Lich King said. Anub'arak nodded. Arthas directed his gaze at Rivendare, who simply nodded. "Then it is settled. Outland it is." He stated.

"How are we going to the Dark Portal?" Anub'arak asked.

"We'll figure that out along the way." Arthas replied casually. The others traded looked of uncertainty before following Arthas.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

**"Kil'Jaeden, be advised that Arthas escaped." **N'zoth informed the eredar.

"What!? You let him escape!?" Kil'Jaeden shouted over their connection.

**"That tone makes me want to smash you demon. Who do you think you are!?" **The old god replied angrily.

"Look, find the Lich King and kill him! Find him and kill him and any of the remaining undead." Kil'Jaeden ordered.

**"Just remember that I am only doing this because it benefits me. Keep that in mind demon." **N'zoth answered. Then, the connection went dead.

**"Arthas has escaped! Kill him! Kill him and his companions!" **N'zoth roared at someone.

* * *

_**Back at Nordrassil...**_

"We just received reports that the scourge is now... defeated." Kaztarel informed. "But, Arthas and his generals' corpses are yet to be seen." He added.

"They must have escaped." Gevanson said.

"We are not sure yet. But that is a probability." The Emperor replied. "But for now, I suggest we just keep on preparing our defenses. I am pretty sure that the Scourge put up one hell of a fight so the Legion will have to recover."

"Agreed." They said unanimously.

"Emperor Kazi! A word?" Krell called out. The Emperor turned to look at him, to see that he is with Zhug. The emperor smiled as he approached them.

"Excuse me." He stated as he approached the duo.

"We just received reports that... Arthas and the remaining generals were attacked by an Old God, N'zoth." Zhug informed.

"What!? Did the generals survived?" Kazi asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately, we don't know. But we will let you know when we do Emperor." The rifleman said.

"Okay, go back to your posts. See that everyone is doing their jobs right." Kazi ordered.

"Yes, Emperor." The two said and bowed their heads and walked off.

* * *

**_Back at Northrend..._**

The scourge leaders have been walking for hours, and have recently arrived at the shores of the light-forsaken place. But they noticed two figures standing on the shores, just between them and the ship that they will use to get off Northrend. They noticed that both are armed, and are not human. One of them appears as a skeletal figure carrying a bone-like scythe, with a visible muscle tissue, implying that he(?) is undead. His skull is bare and shows off two sets of teeth, the inner one having visible gums with his cranium being rimmed with teeth and two long horns on the sides. The thing appears to only have an eye, a left golden eye. There appears to be torn skin hanging from his right arm, which mostly exposes his muscular tissue. The thing's only clothing appears as three layered pauldrons and tattered cloth of unknown material. The lower half of his torso is missing to display a partial ribcage and a black hole of sorts. The black hole continuously draws in energy particles and projects strange lightning around anyone who gets near them. The other one, which carries two blades, one larger than the other. His skin pigment is light purple and the hair is fully white. He also wears pirate attire complete with a pirate hat, but it was not just ordinary armor, the shoulder pads are claw-like, and each has an eye in the middle, a violet eye, very similar to Nightmare's weapon. His pirate hat also features another violet eye in the middle, so does his belt, and his knee pads, giving the man an intimidating appearance. As the scourge generals approached, the strange beings eyed them, and quickly readied their weapons.

"Whoah!" Arthas exclaimed in surprise as he drew Frostmourne.

"Move aside, or be annihilated." Baron threatened as he drew his runeblade. The two beings said nothing. The one who wields two weapons aimed the smaller weapon to Baron. It was then that they realized that the sword has a pistol for a handle, and it fired at the colossal death knight. He barely managed to avoid the round. The generals wasted no time and did a counterattack, who were all simply avoided or blocked by some sort of invisible shield.

"I'll take on this dual wielding bastard." Baron stated as he approached the man. The death knight wasted no time and fired off a frost bolt, which was avoided easily. But it did not end there as he charged and sent a powerful slash at the corrupted pirate. It resulted in a weapon lock which was broken when the pirate kicked Baron in the gut, knocking him back and giving him the opportunity to fire his pistol and hit him in the chest. Baron just shrugged it off and sent another slash, just as he expected he avoided it, but the pirate was not prepared for Baron's follow up. He shot off a frost bolt which hit him square in the face, stunning him and leaving him open for another slash which hit him from the shoulder down to the waist. The pirate roared in pain and stepped back, but he didn't put his guard up and got hit by a roundhouse kick, knocking him down to the ground. "Pathetic." Baron said as he put his sword down to where his enemy is. Much to his surprise, the pirate rolled sidewards and stood up quickly, seemingly unaffected by the recent injuries he took.

**"You and your Lich King shall die." **The man said in a terrifying voice.

"Never." The massive death knight simply replied and blasted him with a frost nova much to the surprise of the pirate. It effectively stunned him. The death knight followed it up and stabbed him through the gut, killing him almost instantly. Rivendare turned to check on the others, just in time to see Arthas slash the tall black man and for Anub'arak to send the creature flying when he rammed it. The scythe-wielding skeleton slammed against a nearby rock and struggled to stand up. His hand glowed bright and created a huge ball of energy, which he threw towards the scourge generals. They all managed to avoid it with a quick jump to the side. Baron noticed that the creature is pointing towards his fallen enemy, and suddenly, its skin burned off, and it stood up. What was a former pirate is now a burning skeletal warrior. The skeleton wasted no time and engaged the colossal death knight. It sent a devastating overhead slash which Baron blocked. It sent the death knight sliding through the snow six feet away.

"Damn, I got to admit. You are pretty strong for a skeleton." Baron said, laughing.

"One of you prepare the ships!" Arthas ordered as he ducked under a vertical swing from the massive scythe which the undead-like creature wields.

"Archlich, you can go do it." Anub'arak suggested. The lich looked at the bug with a look of questioning, but did as he suggested nonetheless. Just as the archlich approached the ship, dozens of faceless poured out of it. The lich cursed as he floated back and sent a barrage of frost magic which froze almost all of them in place. Then, the Lord of Naxxramas clenched his hand and the ice, along with the ones encased with them, shattered. The former mage of Kirin'Tor continued on his way to the ship, only to see it full of faceless ones. He started to hurl carefully aimed frostbolts towards them, but it did little to the massive deformed creatures.

"This will take far too long." Kel'thuzad commented. "Anub'arak, I wouldn't mind if you would help me over here! These faceless are pretty much of an annoyance!" He shouted. The traitor king started to approach the ship and he noticed that Kel'thuzad is just using low powered frost magic attacks against the faceless.

"Why would you hold back against these creatures?" The Traitor King asked as he pummeled one of the faceless.

"I wouldn't want to cause collateral damage." The lich simply replied. The crypt lord just nodded and continued to kill the faceless ones. The lich created an ice naginata which he used to stab the faceless, much to the surprise of the giant bug.

"Hmm... I never knew you could use melee weapons." Anub'arak told him.

"I taught myself. It is really useful, so, why not?" Kel'thuzad replied as he continued to stab the faceless. He then skillfully twirled it around his skeleton fingers and successfully hit the nearby faceless in the face (Damn). Anub'arak looked impressed by the skill the archlich showed. Then, the ice naginata started to morph again, now in the shape of a bow, and he started to unleash a barrage of arrows at the faceless, easily taking most of them out.

"Wow, even archery?" Anub'arak asked, surprised. The lich just laughed as all of the faceless were taken down.

"That was really impressive." The crypt lord commented. Kel'thuzad just smirked. Well, as much as he can with his bony face. Once they are sure that the ship was clear, they went out of the ship and just guarded it.

"Don't you think we should help them?" Anub'arak asked.

"Let's just watch the greatest swordsmen of the scourge, if not the whole Azeroth." Kel'thuzad replied.

...

"Raaaargh!" Baron roared as he slashed at his opponent. It was blocked as expected. He tried to follow it up with a frost bolt, but the bolt was also dodged. The fiery skeleton let out a breath of fire which knocked the death knight back. He cursed as another one of his frost bolts missed. The skeleton shot out a fire bolt, which Rivendare dodged. "Time to finish this... Eat this!" the Leader of the Four Horsemen shouted as he unleashed a barrage of frost and shadow bolts. The skeleton tried to avoid them but several managed to hit. One in particular hit his right foot and caused his to fall. This gave Baron enough time to close in on him and land several more bolts. The creature quickly stood up and raised his weapons in an attempt to block the incoming frost and shadow bolts. Most got through of course. The burning skeleton suddenly jumped to the side, making Rivendare re-aim his assaults on him. But just as he is about to unleash another barrage, the skeleton is suddenly right in front of him, surprising him as the creature stabbed him through his stomach, raised him up in the sky, aimed his pistol sword at him and fired three shots, then thew him to the ground. His larger weapon suddenly burned up. And he pointed it towards the floored death knight, and a stream of fire engulfed the knight. The stream lasted for 3 full seconds before it stopped and the burning skeleton walked away.

"No! It can't be!" Anub'arak exclaimed as he started towards the fallen death knight. The lich quickly stopped him before he could get any further.

"Its not over yet. Its not like Baron would be taken down with such attacks. The battle just started. Both are holding back against their enemies for some reason." Kel'thuzad analyzed.

"Well, the Lich King always holds back against most of his enemies." Anub'arak commented.

"If he is to unleash his full wrath against his enemies, there would be no fight at all." Kel'thuzad replied as he laughed.

"Hahaha... if you think i'll be taken down easily... think again bonehead!" Rivendare shouted as he stood up. The skeleton turned its head towards the supposedly fallen death knight and charged at him again. While charging, he fired off two rounds, which were just dodged skillfully. Then, with a flaming sword, tried to slash him with a horizontal cleave. The attack is quickly parried, and the death knight countered with a knee to the gut of his enemy, and another punch to the face. Despite the fact that the enemy's whole body is burning, the death knight didn't seem to mind. The skeleton staggered back at the sudden counterattack and tried to burn him again with a stream of flame. Baron quickly evaded the stream and formed an ice spear at his off hand, and threw it at the skeleton. Upon contact, frost magic exploded and partially froze the left half of his torso, but it was quickly melted. Baron then did an overhead slash, which was blocked, but not his foot which made contact with the ribcage of his enemy when the runeblade touched his enemy's blade. The attack caused the flaming skeleton to stagger back a few feet. While his enemy is defenseless, the Leader of the four horsemen hurled a shadow bolt at his enemy, stunning him. "Time to finish this." He whispered to his enemy as he mercilessly hacked off its left arm, then chopped off its head, effectively killing him. "You are a fool to challenge me." Rivendare said to his fallen opponent. He turned to look at Arthas who is still at a melee fight against his scythe wielding enemy. "Master! Finish it now so we can leave!" Baron shouted at the Lich King. Arthas looked at him and smiled evilly. Then he turned to his enemy again and saw his scythe swinging in a horizontal path towards him. He grabbed the bony snath of the scythe and pulled at it, pulling his enemy nearer to him, then he snapped the scythe in half and threw the half which has a blade at the undead-like creature. It impaled him in the left shoulder, and Arthas followed it up with another slash from Frostmourne, which hit its ribcage and caused a great deal of pain.

"I will kill you ever so slowly..." Arthas whispered. He stabbed his left foot, which threw the creature off balance and floored him, then he started to deliver countless slashes here and there, nothing were fatal enough to kill, but all of them are painful enough to cause the creature to roar in agony. And as a finisher, Arthas pulled the half of the scythe with a blade and impaled the golden eye of the creature with it. Then, he froze the feet and arms of the creature to the ground, and created ice spikes, which impaled its palms and its knees. Then, he slashed the black hole with Frostmourne, making a "wound" to it, much to the surprise of everyone present. The power slowly seeped through the wound. "Now, I will leave you here to die..." Arthas whispered and walked away while laughing malevolently. Then he ordered his remaining generals to bring the dual wielding skeleton with them and throw it in the middle of the ocean, which they did so. "Now, we set sail towards the eastern kingdoms. Towards the Blasted Lands." Arthas stated.

"Glory to the scourge!" Kel'thuzad cheered.

"Glory to the Lich King!" They all said unanimously.

* * *

Abyss watched as the undead generals sailed away with C'thun. Or, more like the embodiment of C'thun. He himself couldn't get the ice spikes that impaled its palms and knees off of him. And, power is slowly seeping from his body.

**"Curse you Lich King... You won't get away with this!" **Yogg-Saron roared. **"Can you hear me!? You won't get away with this!"** he shouted one last time before his embodiment finally drew its last breath and lay lifeless on the ground.

* * *

**_A week later..._**

"Hail, powerful Kil'Jaeden. Our forces are ready and are just waiting to where they will be deployed." A large dreadlord said.

"Very well. I want you to lead an invasion towards the Eastern Kingdoms." Kil'Jaeden replied to the dreadlord.

"Of course, Lord Kil'Jaeden. I won't fail you." The dreadlord said.

"I know you won't, Tichondrius." Kil'Jaeden said as he laughed. "We have received reports that the Horde and Alliance has evacuated and abandoned their homes. Only some remained. You will have to... cleanse the whole Eastern Kingdoms, and make it our primary base. It should be an easy target for you Tichondrius. I'll be watching you from here." He ordered. Tichondrius nodded and walked off.

* * *

_**Meanwhile... at Khaz Modan...**_

The remaining dwarves are currently packing some things up and some of those battle able ones are guarding Ironforge. One of the guards started to screaming a warning to look up in the sky. The guards looked up in the sky and one of them ran inside and called Muradin to look outside. The guard came back out with Muradin and the mountain king's eyes widened like saucers when he looked up in the sky.

"Prepare the defenses! The Legion has come!" Muradin ordered. Then fire started to rain from the sky and burned a few wooden buildings. Then a portal opened nearby, and demons poured out of it and started to destroy everything they see.

"Hahaha... foolish dwarves." A large dreadlord said as he watched the demons slaughter everything. Then a dwarf, a mountain king to be exact ran into him and engaged him in a melee battle. The dwarf, which is identified as Muradin himself, hurled a storm bolt which was avoided easily.

"So, ye are the leader of this invasion?" Muradin asked.

"Hahaha... Yes I am, and i will be the one who will slaughter you and your people." The dreadlord said.

"Ye won't succeed, us dwarves have the heart of steel. Ye demons will never succeed!" Muradin roared as he swung his hammer at the dreadlord, which missed. Then swung his axe again, which is avoided when the dreadlord flew up and pointed his finger at the dwarf. Then, a red bolt of lightning struck the dwarf from his hand, severely weakening the dwarf but not killing him. The dreadlord then landed and walked towards the weakened dwarf.

"Hmm... it is a surprise you survived that. Let me solve that dwarf." The demon said. He brought his claws down when suddenly, it was blocked by the mountain king's axe and his face was hit by a hammer, knocking him back. Then a storm bolt hit the dreadlord square in the chest and stunned him, allowing Muradin to hit the dreadlord with another swing of his hammer. "Argh!" The dreadlord roared as he impaled Muradin with his claws. Then he brought the dwarf at eye level with him. "You have been a fool to think that you can take on The Tichondrius..." He said then threw Bronzebeard down on the ground, dead.

"Quickly now, finish these dwarves off." Tichondrius ordered.

**_Two days later..._**

The whole eastern kingdoms is now wiped out of all life, only the demons remained. Kil'Jaeden approached the dreadlord responsible for the wipeout of all life.

"You did a pretty good job here Tichondrius." Kil'Jaeden commented as he looked around. Everything is in utter chaos, burning bodies here and there, burned down buildings, mutilated bodies...

"Thank you, Lord Kil'Jaeden." The dreadlord replied. "This will be our base of operations, am I right Milord?" He asked.

"Yes, after everything is prepared, we will attack Nordrassil and burn it down on the ground." The eredar answered.

"If I may ask Lord Kil'Jaeden, what happened to all the demons you brought here with you towards Northrend? Did they all die?" The nathrezim asked inquisitively.

"Most were killed by the undead. They put up quite a fight. The remaining ones were caught in the explosion I made, which was made to gravely injure the Lich King. It was not enough to kill him however. I even asked N'zoth to finish him off, but even he failed. He is now assumed to be on the run." The demonlord explained.

"Should I... chase him off and kill him for you?" Tichondrius suggested.

"No, let him run for the time being. N'zoth will be keeping track of him. And he will also be the one who will take care of him." Kil'Jaeden said. The dreadlord merely nodded. "Now, we must fortify this base and ready our forces for the attack. We'll burn Nordrassil to the ground." The demon lord continued.

* * *

_**Another day later...**_

"Master, we are nearing the kingdoms, it is practically in sight!" Kel'thuzad announced. Arthas perked up at the announcement and looked to where the archlich is looking at. Sure enough, a huge mass of land is there. The Lich King frowned.

"Hmm... there's smoke everywhere... Hurry up! We must land immediately." The Lich King commanded.

"Landfall in 10 minutes!" Anub'arak announced.

"That's pretty long... I'm a little dizzy from all of this traveling on seas..." Baron complained. "Too bad my stead is gone..." He said with a downcast look. Arthas' expression also changed from determined to saddened.

'Invincible...' He thought to himself. 'Your death will not be in vain! I promise.' Then he looked at the Eastern Kingdoms and his expression changed again from saddened to shocked. "Stop the ship!" He commanded.

"But why master?" Anub'arak objected.

"Just do it!" He shouted at the bug. The beetle obeyed fearfully and forced the ship to stop several meters from the land.

"Master, why are we stopping?" Kel'thuzad asked.

"We will continue on foot. Freeze a pathway on the water for us to walk on lich." He replied. The lich did as he was ordered and froze a path up to the shore. "We will go one by one. Baron, you go first, since you are so eager to leave this ship, Anub'arak will be after you, then Kel'thuzad. I'll go last. Go!" He ordered. Baron started to walk down towards the ice path, and when he made it to the shore, the beetle slowly walked down the ship and onto the shore. Kel'thuzad followed them without a problem. "Now... before I go..." Arthas said as he stabbed Frostmourne on the ship, freezing it all over.

"What is the master doing?" Baron asked aloud. The other two just shrugged and continued to watch Arthas. The Lich King then went down on the ice path, and in a swift motion, slashed the ship in half. The three generals could only watch in awe as the ship sunk down to the surface of the ocean. But knowing the extent of their master's power, it wasn't something to be really shocked about, but still...

"Hey, let's get going." Arthas said to them, snapping them out of their train of thoughts.

"Yes master." They answered unanimously.

"Okay, so here is where we stand. We are now at the Eastern Kingdoms..." He said as they walked. "See the smoke up there?" He asked. The three nodded. "Obviously, there was a battle here, and we can only assume one thing." He continued.

"Demons." Baron stated.

"Exactly. Now, we can try sneaking through their bases. Though I doubt it will be easy, its not really entirely impossible." He instructed.

"Or, we can just annihilate the whole base and make our way to the Blasted Lands." Baron interrupted.

"That's pretty risky. We surely would be defeated against an army of demons without an army ourselves." Kel'thuzad commented.

"I agree." Anub'arak spoke.

"Before anything else though, we need an overview of everything. Let's hurry up. We're wasting daylight." Arthas stated. "Let's go up into that mountain." He said as he pointed to a nearby mountain. "Can you create a portal towards there?" He asked the lich.

"Certainly master." The arch lich answered and started to channel magic to his palms. Then a portal appeared in front of him. On the other side of the portal is the mountain, one of the mountains in Hinterlands. They all walked through the portal. And as they gazed below them, on the horizon, their eyes widened. All they saw is destruction. Demons are scouring the land, killing any remnants of the inhabitants of the Eastern Kingdoms. What was Khaz Modan is nothing more than piles of burning rubble.

"Wha... How..." Baron started. He was at loss at words.

"The demons..." Arthas stated as he pointed down to the group of patrolling doomguards. "Stay out of sight everyone." He warned. They surveyed the area, trying to find any signs of survivors. They found none after a while of searching.

"How can they level an entire continent in a few days?" Baron asked.

"The dwarves and humans alike must have evacuated earlier, so, it would be easier for the demons to level an entire continent in a few days if most of its inhabitants and armies are at Hyjal or have evacuated somewhere." The Lich King answered. "And... I can only think of one place they must have went to." He thought aloud.

"Outland." Kel'thuzad continued.

"Exactly." The Kingslayer confirmed. "Now, let us find a way to the Blasted Lands. Surely, the Dark Portal will be heavily guarded. Any ideas?" He asked.

"There will be no way we can sneak in through the portal. So, we are left with no other choice." Anub'arak stated.

"We will annihilate anyone who stands in our way." Baron concluded as he laughed maliciously.

"During the night, we will sneak through the bases of these demons. And, if possible, we won't kill any demon so as to not cause a ruckus." The Lich King explained. "Dispatch any demons quietly if we are forced to do so. Drag the dead body somewhere and hide it after dispatchment." He continued. "Now, where do you think should we camp out?" He asked.

"This mountain would do. But we can get back to the shore again if you prefer master." Kel'thuzad suggested.

"So, its the mountain then..." He exclaimed. "Now, we wait until nightfall." He said and sat on the ground and leaned onto one of the large rocks.

* * *

**_8 hours later..._**

Night has fallen a few hours ago, but they waited out until midnight so it would be completely dark. They stood up from their position and readied themselves.

"Okay... everyone ready?" Arthas whispered as he unsheathed Frostmourne. Grunts of confirmation are heard and the sound of the runeblade of Baron being unsheathed is heard. "Let's go. Remember our plan." He advised as he walked down the side of the mountain. The others followed suit. They all did their best to walk down the mountain as silent as possible. Once they finally made it to the base, they all breathed a sigh of relief. "Now what?" Arthas whispered. He surveyed the area, then saw trees nearby. "Quickly, there!" He ordered. They all ran to the trees with as little noise as they can. "Crawl..." He whispered. They all dropped to the ground and started crawling. After a while, they came across another outpost. They surveyed the area to see if there is any way to sneak past it, and found none. "Shit." Arthas whispered.

"Okay, now what?" Baron asked.

"I can burrow to the ground and create a pathway for us. I see some trees over there, i'll start burrowing now and create an exit just behind those trees." Anub'arak stated. His companions nodded, and so, he started to burrow down on the ground. A moment later, he came out of the trees off in the distance, just at the rear of the base. Completely out of sight. Then, he came back down, and another moment later, he came out of the burrow he did before. "Okay, its prepared. Let us go down." The giant bug said. They all did so, carefully, they walked down the hole the bug made and started to walk forward.

"Its really dark." Arthas commented. "Hold on a second." he said then stabbed Frostmourne on the ground. It glowed a radiant blue which illuminated the entire "cave", effectively solving the light problem. "Let's go." He ordered. And so they continued to walk forward. A few minutes later, the ground above suddenly crashed down, with Baron barely being able to avoid it.

"Damn, we must hurry or we will be discovered!" Baron exclaimed. The others nodded in agreement and sped up their pace. Another crash sounded in a few minutes, with a demon falling down with the dirt and rocks. The generals gasped in surprise, but quickly killed the demon with a few ice spikes. The spikes pierced through the demons chest and head, effectively taking it out.

"That was close, we must hurry!" Arthas exclaimed. They started to run away from the hole that the demon made. After two more crashes and another demon, they finally neared the exit of the cave. They quickly climbed out of it and sealed it after coming out of it.

"Let's proceed. We are barely a quarter towards the Dark Portal." The Kingslayer whispered to his comrades. "Shit, get down!" He shouted, just in time to see a fireball slam into one of the nearby trees, explode, and set the tree on fire. Completely revealing them. "Shit! We're caught! No other choice other than to fight our way through and fall back somewhere and hope we lose them!" He ordered. They quickly made their way into a steep mountain, making sure to kill any demon foolish enough to approach them and try to stop them. "Baron, try to climb up." Arthas ordered. The death knight did as he was asked but fell back down a few moments later.

"Master, its too steep!" Baron shouted. He cursed as he tried and fell again.

"Let's find somewhere else!" Arthas exclaimed. The demons surrounding them slowly approached them, but Arthas let loose a powerful frost explosion that knocked most of them out, and the others conscious but on the ground. "Quickly! Let's go!" He shouted again as he stabbed a doomguard and kicked it to remove it from his runeblade. They started to run and slaughter any demons they encounter. "It will only be a short amount of time before Kil'jaeden knows about this. We must hurry!" He ordered.

"Let's go to that forest! That way we can lose them!" Baron suggested.

"I suppose that's a better idea than a mountain..." Arthas commented as he threw a frost spear at one of the doom guards. Suddenly, a huge annihilan blocked their way to the forest, with him are two dreadlords.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" The pit lord roared as it stabbed its double-edged blade to the ground.

"We will see about that, pit lord." Baron stated.

"I, Garanalf, will not let you escape. There is no place to hide... Oblivion awaits!" The large demon roared as he tried to squash his lieutenants, but failed. Arthas quickly ran to help his generals but was blocked by the two dreadlords.

"Heh, you are not going anywhere." One of the dreadlords, the gray-winged one said menacingly.

"We are the twin dreadlord-dragonslayers! I am Roguenar!" The black-winged one, Roguenar said.

"And I am Stichondrius, and we will be your worst nightmare!" The gray-winged, Stichondrius, said. Then, demons started to approach them and surround them. "Do not interfere!" He shouted. The demons backed off and just watched the battle.

"Get the fuck out of my way!" Arthas roared. He charged at them, threw several ice spikes, all of which where avoided. Then leapt at Stichondrius and tried to slash him, only to be kicked in the face and slashed at his back from Roguenar. "Not bad." Arthas said as he smiled. He shot an ice beam at Stichondrius, only to be avoided.

"Roar of the White Dragon!" Stichondrius roared. A gray laser came out of his mouth and hit Arthas square in the chest. It easily knocked him down on the ground, and into one of the trees, utterly destroying the tree. The twin dreadlord-dragonslayers started to smile, when it was interrupted with Arthas' laugh.

"Fool! Do you think i'll easily be defeated? It takes more than that you winged bastards!" Arthas shouted. _'Hmm... roar of the white dragon...? What kind of power is that? And with the black-winged dreadlord... I could only imagine what kind of power both posses.'_ He thought to himself.

"Shall we continue?" Arthas challenged as he smiled carelessly.

"You are really confindent when obviously you are surrounded by demons. There is no escape Lich King." Roguenar said as he laughed.

"Lord Kil'Jaeden sent us to finish you off. And, we are not going to fail him." Stichondrius shouted as he charged at Arthas. The two let off furious slashes at each other, soon however, Roguenar joined in and unleashed a barrage of shadow slashes. None hit Arthas, but the dragonslaying dreadlords got several cuts on them as time passed. Then, Arthas directed a grievous cleave at Roguenar's neck, aiming to chop his head off. It turned out unsuccessful, as the dreadlord completely took form of a shadow and the attack hit nothing but the air. Arthas' eyes widened, as it left him vulnerable for a slash from the other dreadlord's claws across his face. He managed to step back, but he still got hit and got four streaks of slash across his cheek. Blood quickly came out of the wounds, but it did not seem to faze the Lich king in the slightest.

"Hahaha. What makes you think you are a match against me? I defeated, the man who killed your leader, in a single battle. I defeated him, but chose to spare him and let the night elves hunt him down. I defeated Illidan Stormrage! The one who killed your leader, Tichondrius the Darkener!" Arthas roared as he kicked Stichondrius in the chest, knocking him back, and following it up with another slash, but was surprised when it was stopped by Roguenar. Arthas wasted no time and grabbed the shadow dragonslayer by hand and threw him to the ground. He was about to stab him to death when he was kicked back by the other dragonslaying dreadlord. The Lich King quickly retaliated with a punch from his off hand, which was blocked. Arthas smiled as he froze the demon's arm up to the shoulder.

"Roar of the Shadow Dragon!"

A black beam blasted him away from the dragonslayer, undoubtedly from Roguenar. Arthas immediately got up, with an annoyed look on his face. "Fools..." He simply said as he ran towards them again, they engaged in a melee battle again, but with Arthas more furious and more powerful. He easily got past Stichondrius' defenses and stabbed him through the chest, putting him out of battle temporarily.

"Sticho-"

Arthas stabbed the other dreadlord through the shoulder, then froze part of the demon's upper body. The fatal strike from before with Stichondrius distracted the dreadlord enough for Arthas to slash at the demon and freeze part of the chest. The Lich King wasted no time and did a flying kick to the head of his enemy, knocking him down, and rendering him vulnerable for a finishing stab through the face. The undead man turned to the bleeding dragonslayer.

"Now.. what do I do about you?" He asked menacingly as he smiled evilly.

"No! Spare me! I know all of the demonlord's plans! I-" He was stopped when Arthas held the blade just at his throat, ready to kill in an instant.

"Maybe... But first, tell me. How did you get such pow-"

"Master! We could use a hand here!" Baron shouted.

"Ugh... I almost forgot about the annihilan. Anyways... I'll see you later." Arthas stated and blasted him and froze him against a nearby tree. Then raised the slain demons to dead and told them to guard the dreadlord. Then he ran to the generals who struggled against the dreadlord.

"Master, we got a serious problem here. For some reason, this pit lord commands the power of lightning... Black lightning." Kel'thuzad informed.

"I wouldn't be surprised... The two dreadlords here claimed that they are dragonslayers. One of them commands the power of shadows, and the other... strangely enough... white light." Arthas said as he dodged a lightning bolt. "Look, we will talk about this later. In the meantime..." The Lich King said as he dodged another bolt. The pit lord kept on shooting out bolts of lightning, which are really hard to avoid. Soon, they took cover behind a huge rock, which wouldn't hold for long.

"We're stuck. What do we do?" Baron said.

"Spread out. I got an idea. Stall him." Arthas stated. The generals did as they were told and went out of the rock, out of cover, then started to avoid any bolts that came from the pit lord. At the same time, they sent bolts of frost or ice spikes at the massive demon. Arthas was left behind the rock, charging up his frost magic to be able to summon hundreds of spikes and hurl hundreds of bolts. "Keep stalling him!" The crown prince of Lordaeron ordered. When he was ready, he came out of cover, and summoned hundreds of sparkling ice spikes and frost bolts and spears. He then threw them in a machinegun-like motion. The attack seemed very effective as the demon has no means to block or avoid any of the attacks because of its massive size. After the ice projectile assault was over, Arthas quickly created a gigantic hammer, which is twice as large as the pit lord's double-edged blade, and slammed it against the annihilan, stunning him and almost killing him. "Finish him off." Arthas ordered as he leaned on his blade. _'Shit... I used too much magic. I overdid it again. And... I exhausted myself very much...' _He thought to himself. _'I must not let them see me like this.' _He added, he stood up before anyone could see.

"Hey! Are you all done!? We have something else to deal with!" Arthas shouted. The generals ran to him and followed him into the nearby trees. Some demons tried to follow them, but were quickly taken care of by Baron. The demons guarding the dragonslayer are still standing and watching him. They all stepped aside once they saw him and his generals approaching. He motioned them to guard the perimeter and to slay any demon who tried to approach them and attack them. The demon is still on the ice, just observing the things happening.

"Master.. Is this one of the demons you are talking about? The dragonslaying dreadlord?" Kel'thuzad asked inquisitively.

"Yes, this is the one that commanded... white light. Pretty strange. And... I was about to ask him how he acquired such power when I was interrupted by Baron here." Arthas stated as he gestured towards the colossal death knight, who just shrugged.

"Master, I apologize for interrupting though. We really could've used a hand back there." Baron replied.

"And, I did help. So, I don't think it matters now." He answered. "This... is what matters now." He said as he looked at the frozen dreadlord. Stichondrius looked at them fearfully and started to squirm around in the ice that restrained him. "You will be dead even before your feet hit the ground. I suggest you quit squirming and start talking..." Arthas said menacingly. The dreadlord stopped immediately and looked at them fearfully.

"Ask me whatever you want! Spare me! I beg you." The dragonslayer begged.

"Before we start our... _conversation, _let us go to a safe place first." Arthas suggested. The idea got the others nodding and grunting in approval. The Lich King removed the dreadlord from the tree and with his power, levitated him from the ground, still encased in ice. "Let's go." He said. They started walking deeper into the forest, and with the undead demons covering them, no demons managed to follow them. Once satisfied that no one was following them, and that they are safe, the Kingslayer dropped the dreadlord on the ground, and in the process shattered the ice that encased him. "I expect you to answer all of our questions truthfully. I know if you are lying. So, I will suggest you should not." He said as he stared down at the dreadlord. The dreadlord merely nodded, obviously fearing what might happen next. "Let's start with... How did you acquire such power?" He started.

"I... we acquired this power when we were in another world called.. Dragove. It was the world of the dragons. Of all kinds of dragons. There are more of us who managed to capture one of the powerful dragons and hold them captive for a few days. Which was enough for us to experiment on them." Stichondrius explained. "I managed to capture a white dragon, and the light that I use, is not exactly the holy light that most of you know about. Roguenar's power is from a shadow dragon, which he also captured." He added.

"That does not explain anything demon!" Baron shouted. Arthas waved him off, he is obviously going to cause trouble.

"I was getting there." The dragonslayer stated. "The captured dragons were enslaved by us and forced to teach us their powers. They unwillingly did so, but after... _persuading _them, they did willingly. They taught the one that defeated them and captured them, how to do this and that, everything that is currently available in my arsernal. What you saw back there, Lich King, is merely a fraction of my power. But I know for sure that, you didn't even use a fraction of your power to defeat me, I wouldn't be surprised." He said.

"Continue." Arthas merely said.

"Okay. So, when we mastered all of the draconian arts, we killed the dragons, bathed in their blood, and felt ourselves getting stronger as we did so. After that... we called ourselves, the Dragonslayers." He concluded.

"Dragonslayers... Hmm, how many are you out there exactly?" Kel'thuzad asked.

"I would say about a thirty or so." He answered.

"I have an idea though." Arthas said all of a sudden. "How about you escort us to the Dark Portal?" He suggested.

"The Dark Portal? Why there?" Stichondrius asked.

"You don't need to know. All you need to know is that we need to go there. And I could really use your power." The Lich King said.

"Alright. After that, what happens to me?" He asked nervously.

"Well, we will see about that." Arthas said casually as he laughed. "Let's continue our way there. Pretty sure that Kil'Jaeden sent another one of his elite soldiers to chase us." He said.

"Master, shouldn't we rest?" Anub'arak said.

"There is no time for rest. Just conserve your mana in the time being and everything will be alright." He answered.

And so, they started their journey towards the Dark Portal...

* * *

_**Somewhere in the Eastern Kingdoms...**_

"So... the twin Dragonslayers have been defeated. With the other one allying with the Lich King..." Kil'Jaeden said as he gazed upon a pool. A vision of Arthas, his generals, and Stichondrius making their way to the dark portal can be seen. "I will let you run for now Lich King. Once I am done with Nordrassil, I will chase you down and kill every one of your undead minions and completely put an end to the Undead Scourge!" He roared as he laughed evilly.

"So, Stichondrius and Roguenar have been defeated and has sided with the Lich King..." A figure said as he approached the demon lord.

"Seems like it. His loyalties still lie within the Burning Legion, that is for sure." Kil'Jaeden said as he observed the undead from the pool.

"You do know that I could easily finish them off if you say so right?" The figure said. "And, with the newly acquired power the Nathrezim has, they will stand no chance!" It said.

"I know Tichondrius! But it is not worth it! Surely we will lose many soldiers because we went into pursuit of this man and his bonebag generals!" Kil'Jaeden replied.

"I understand that. But, he will surely cause huge problems in the future if we don't take care of him now!" Tichondrius persuaded.

"Its a no Tichondrius. I made up my mind. For now we will focus our forces to Nordrassil. Make sure everything is prepared, our forces, the weapons, everything." The eredar commanded.

"Yes Lord Kil'Jaeden." The powerful dreadlord replied and walked away to carry out his task at hand. Kil'Jaeden went back to observing the remaining undead who sneaked from base to base towards the Blasted Lands...

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Longest chapter yet.**

**Anyways... I suppose I owe you an apology because I didn't update this for like... I don't even know. I didn't update this story for more than a week or two. Anyways. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Lord of the Rings reference somewhere. And Fairy Tail (The anime) inspired characters. Haha. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry, i'll update this sooner than before... I hope.**

**You will see more of the Dragonslayers soon though. Thanks for reading, and please leave a review and follow the story. Favorite it if it deserves it. Merci mon'ami, Adieu.**


	8. The Crasher Mage

**Author's Note:**

**Greetings Reader!**

**I made you guys wait long again... Sorry about that. Anyways... time for a recap!**

**The remnants of the scourge are still on the run after the events that occurred in Northrend. They decided to head out to Outland and take refuge there, but that meant passing through the Eastern Kingdoms. On their way of off the Frozen Continent, they encountered two beings of suspicious origins. A battle ensued with the generals coming off as victorious. And so, they set sail towards the Eastern Kingdoms, towards the Blasted Lands. Little did they know that they are in for a surprise. Just as they set sail, the demons set foot on the Eastern Kingdoms and annihilated everyone in sight. In just two days the whole continent was wiped out of life, and the demons claimed the Kingdom as their territory, and as the main base of operations. A day later, the generals finally arrived at the Kingdom and made their way to the Dark Portal, but they were shocked to see demons instead of the usual humans and dwarves. They waited until nightfall, and tried to sneak through, but were unsuccessful, they ended up having to fight their way into the portal. Then, two dreadlords and a pit lord came, and tried to stop them, only to die after a fierce fight with them, they took one of the dreadlords, Stichondrius, captive. They learned that a few dreadlords have such power. After a few more questions, they went into the forest, and sneaked with the cloak of darkness on them.**

**Finally. I managed to shorten the recap since its far too long sometimes. Haha. On with thy story!**

* * *

**The Crasher Mage**

_**Back at Nordrassil...**_

"We've recently received reports of demonic activities somewhere in the valleys. What do you make of this Arch druid?" Bolvar asked as he directed his gaze towards the powerful druid.

"Well, have they attacked any of our outposts?" Malfurion asked calmly.

"I don't believe they did. But I'm sure they will soon." Bolvar replied.

"Let us observe them for now. How about you send Captain Svilen and his knights to scout the area Bolvar?" Varian suggested.

"Sounds good. I'll go talk to him now." Bolvar said as he went up to leave.

_Few minutes later..._

"Captain Svilen!" Bolvar called out. The knight immediately turned to look at his direction, and then ran to him.

"Lord Bolvar. Is there anything you need?" The captain said as he saluted.

"Actually, there is. I need you and your men to scout the area where there is suspected to be demonic activity." The man said.

"Of course milord. I shall carry it out immediately." Svilen said as he turned to brief his men about their mission.

* * *

_**An hour later...**_

Svilen and two of his men have arrived at the area where demonic activity is suspected to be. Sure enough, a fortified base lay in their sights.

"Whoah... This is quite a shocker. The base is bigger than expected..." One of the knights said.

"No kidding. This is a big problem." The other stated.

"Quiet down you two... Let's stick around for a bit." Svilen commanded. The other two nodded in approval and observed the base with interest. A wall is protecting the base, and guards are patrolling everywhere. The base is without question, heavily fortified.

"Captain. Someone's closing in. He seemed to be heading to the front gates." The knight said.

"He's gotta be crazy. He'll be dead in seconds. Though he doesn't seem to be any of our allies, so it is none of our business." The other knight said. His response got a nod of approval from the other as they observed the cloaked man. From what they could see, the man appears to be muscular and with orange hair. He wears a high-collared, tattered cloak with shoulder plates. The guards that stand at the gates immediately ordered the man to back off or be killed. However, the man didn't stop walking to the gate, seemingly ignoring the guard's threats. The guards immediately followed his threat and started to close in on the man. Much to the surprise of everyone, just as the guard was about to chop the man's head off with his blade, he simply punched the blade, making it glow, and shattering it in mere seconds. He then kicked the demon, knocking him down immediately. The other guard ran to him, only to be blown away by a whiff of the man's hand.

"That guy is really powerful..." Svilen commented. "I can feel his magical power from here." He added as he continued to look at the man.

Meanwhile, the cloaked man continued on his way to the gate.

"Crash!" The orange haired man roared. The gate glowed brightly, and was destroyed in mere seconds. Demons stood at the other side of the destroyed gate, ready to intercept them, with a few dreadlords and pit lords in their ranks. The man didn't seem to be intimidated in a way, but wore an angry expression on his face. "You demons sicken me. Destroying all life... bringing nothing but chaos to this world and many others... Unforgivable." The man said as he slammed his foot on the ground, causing cracks to form all around him at ten feet radius. Then the ground started trembling, and the cloaked man's body started to glow. Half of the demons fell on their knees, and trembled with fear. "This ends here..." The man simply uttered, and slammed his hand on the ground.

* * *

_**Moments later...**_

Svilen and his companions ran back to where the others are supposed to be. Sure enough, they saw them at another meeting.

"Lord Bolvar!" Svilen said as he panted.

"Whoah! What happened to you guys? Did you run from there to here? You seem really out of breath." Bolvar commented.

"You wouldn't believe this milord. A single man, leveled an entire fortified base on his own!" Svilen informed them.

"That can't be possible!" Varian said in disbelief.

"You can come see for yourself milord! This man is immensely powerful! With a whiff of his hand, a demon flew ways back! And... just by releasing his full magical power... half of the demons... fell to their knees." Svilen said. Silence followed his statement as each one present traded looks of disbelief.

"So that was it..." Thrall muttered. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What do you mean Earth Shaman?" Varian asked.

"I know everyone here felt it too. That intense magical power. It must be that man who leveled the entirety of that demon base. His magic is so powerful, that it can be felt from a distance." Thrall explained.

"I can vouch for that. I did feel some sort of pressure a while ago." Varian wondered. Kazi nodded in agreement.

"Take me there." Thrall said. Svilen looked at him in utter surprise.

"With all due respect Warchief I don't think that is a good idea!" Svilen said. "We have no idea if this man is a friend of anyone. And with that kind of power, he might just kill us on sight." The captain said worriedly.

"He did destroy the demon base. So he is just on the same boat as we are." The warchief replied.

"The warchief has a point. He might just aid us in our defense against Kil'Jaeden." Bolvar pointed out.

"In that case, let us all go and try to find this guy. With that kind of power, Kil'Jaeden would be shocked as to what he is against." Bolvar suggested. They got up, went with the captain, who led them to the destroyed demon base.

* * *

_**Another moment later...**_

They have just arrived at the base, and are now trying to find any trace of the man.

"Whoever this guy is... he's really powerful. There's a ton of residual magic left in here." Kaztarel commented as they entered the base through the destroyed gate.

"I think I see a man over there." Thrall said. The others turned to look to where he is looking at and sure enough, found the cloaked man sitting on debris.

"You guys came here to destroy this base? Well, I saved you guys the trouble." The mysterious man said as he stood up from his "seat". "I hope I didn't disappoint you guys. The name is Gildarts, pleased to meet you." The man, Gildarts said as he extended his hand for a handshake. He was left hanging however as they just stared at him. "I see, you guys are not big on greetings huh?" The Crasher Mage said as he laughed.

"What's your business here?" Bolvar asked as he looked at the powerful mage.

"I just go around, killing demons since they do nothing other than bring destruction to wherever they go." He replied casually.

"Seems like a good goal to me." Kazi commented.

"You are quite powerful, I can feel it." Malfurion stated.

"Heh. I hear that a lot." The man said, laughing.

"You seem to be very... Nonchalant about all this." Kazi commented. The Crasher Mage just laughed on his comment and shrugged it off.

"Are you the one... who destroyed this.. base?" Thrall asked with a serious look on his face.

"Yep. They didn't really offer much resistance." Gildarts answered.

"You sound disappointed." Bolvar pointed out.

"Are you... alone?" Varian asked.

"Yeah. Though I belong in a guild... I don't really stay that long there." Gildarts answered as laughed. "We are currently working on stopping the demonic invasion that is taking place right now." He added.

"That's perfect. How about you join forces with us back at Nordrassil?" Varian suggested.

"Whoah. That's completely out of the blue. But why would you want a complete stranger to join forces with you guys?" The orange-haired man asked.

"The demons you seek to destroy, your guild's goal, can be completed if you do join forces with us. The Burning Legion is planning on burning the World Tree to the ground." Varian explained.

"Sounds good. I'll see if I can get a few of my friends with me." Gildarts answered.

"Great. Meet us at the World Tree once you brought them with you." Bolvar said. Gildarts just nodded and walked off. Heading towards his guildmates. The leaders watched as he walked off, until he disappeared.

"Well, that was pretty easy." Kazi commented.

"Yeah. I thought he'd be a tougher nut to crack." Bolvar affirmed.

"Now, our forces will be bolstered once he joins us, not to mention his guildmates. Let us get back to the World Tree at once." Malfurion said. The others nodded and started walking back to the tree.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

Arthas and his companions finally made it to the dark portal, and the only thing blocking their way is... Detheroc.

"What the hell? He's still alive? Anub'arak and me killed that fool back when they attacked us in Northrend!" Baron whispered to them when all of a sudden, the blue dreadlord looked their way and smiled. He then raised his hand and formed a cannon made out entirely of ice, and fired some sort of ice bullet, which exploded once it hit the ground. They all managed to jump out of the way however. The dreadlord laughed and continued to fire his cannon at them. That is, until Arthas counterattacked with a frost nova.

"How are you alive? Me and Baron killed you back in Northrend!" Anub'arak shouted over the frost explosions.

"What you saw in Northrend was merely an illusion." The dreadlord replied as he laughed. The doom guards and pit lords that accompanied him soon joined in with the assault against the undead generals.

"Okay, i'll take Detheroc on, you guys kill all his guards. Got it?" Arthas explained. His generals nodded. "Alright." He said as he approached the dreadlord.

"You are the only one who's blocking our way into the Blasted Lands. Let us pass and you will be unharmed." The Lich King threatened.

"Oh its not just me." The dreadlord replied. Suddenly, another dreadlord landed just beside him. Stichondrius.

"Just as I thought." The fallen prince simply said. He charged at the dreadlords and started to unleash lightning-fast slashes. All of the slashes missed as the dreadlords flew away. He immediately launched frost bolts at them, which are again, easily avoided. Stichondrius aimed a beam at the Lich King, to which he jumped out of the way and counterattacked with a frost spear. It completely caught the dreadlord off guard as it pierced through his wing, making him fall down to the ground. He groaned in pain but stood up immediately, just in time for him to block Frostmourne. It ended up being a weapon lock...

"White Dragon Roar!"

A beam of light blasted Arthas away from the dreadlord. Detheroc immediately swooped in for the kill, but just as he is about to deliver the finishing blow to the Lich King, a huge shard of ice came out of nowhere and stabbed him through the chest, making him howl in pain. The ice shard suddenly started moving, much to the surprise of everyone, and is flying towards Stichondrius. The dreadlord jumped out of the way, just as the gigantic ice shard smashed into the ground and shattered. He breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief was short lived as a blade punctured his gut. "You let your guard down..." Arthas whispered to the surprised dreadlord. Then he kicked the corpse so that his blade could go free.

_Meanwhile..._

"Die fool!" Baron roared. He threw an ice spear at the pit lord, which had little to no effect on it.

"It doesn't even tickle!" The pit lord shouted and tried to crush the colossal death knight with his blade. Rivendare managed to leap out of the way however. Then, a huge chunk of ice slammed into the pit lord, momentarily stunning him, and giving Baron just enough time to decapitate the pit lord.

"Whoever did that have my thanks!" He shouted over the fighting.

"Don't mention it death knight!" Kel'thuzad shouted back as he took down another doom guard.

"I wouldn't mind if you lend me a hand!" Anub'arak shouted. The beetle is currently struggling to kill the huge pit lord who tries to smash him to bits and pieces. Kel'thuzad threw frost bolts at the pit lord, much to the large demon's annoyance. It roared in anger and made a great cleave with its weapon, nearly killing the Traitor King of Azjol'Nerub. Kel'thuzad started to conjure another flurry of frost and shadow bolts, or at least... tried to conjure them. The arch lich realized that he completely exhausted his magics, and that meant...

"Anub'arak! I have completely ran out of magic power! I won't be able to cast anything powerful, though i'll try my best to support you with... anything I can." The lich shouted.

"Don't worry! I'll lend you a hand!" Baron shouted. He rushed to the giant beetle's aid and gave everything he's got to take down the pit lord. Meanwhile, Kel'thuzad threw a frost bolt at the pit lord, one after another, every one second.

"This is stupid..." The lich muttered to himself as he continued to attack the demon. After a few minutes, the annihilan suddenly fell forward, lifeless. Arthas is standing on the demon's back, obviously the cause of the demon's death.

"That was some timing my king!" Baron commented.

"Nevermind that, let us proceed to Outland, the portal just lies ahead." Arthas responded quickly. He ran to the portal, with the others following him without hesitation through it.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

"Lord Kil'Jaeden, Arthas has made it through the dark portal, along with his companions. Detheroc and his guards didn't put up much of a fight." Tichondrius informed.

"Just as I thought. Let them run for now. We will attack them once Nordrassil is dealt with." Kil'Jaeden replied.

"When will the attack commence though? All of our forces are ready. Though there is something I would like to talk about..." The dreadlord stated.

"Oh? And what would that be?" The demonlord asks.

"Someone attacked our scouting base... And destroyed it utterly. No one survived the attack." Tichondrius explained.

"Someone...?" The demonlord asks, confused.

"Yes. Someone, alone. We received a distress call several hours ago. Here's the recorded call." Tichondrius said before he pulled out a crystal ball, and waved his hand on it. A projection of sorts popped up, showing a dreadlord shouting.

"Lord Tichondrius! Send help quick! We are being attacked by someone!" The dreadlord on the projection shouted over the call. Then the sound of crashing sounded, and many demons flew overhead, dead. And that was where the projection ended.

"The base was destroyed in less than five minutes. By someone, which means... the man/woman was alone." Tichondrius explained.

"That's impossible! That base was heavily fortified! And it was destroyed in less than five minutes! This is absurd!" Kil'Jaeden said disbelievingly.

"I myself have doubts over it too. But based on the dreadlord's face, he seemed panicked. Scared even." The red dreadlord answered. "There was a sizable amount of demons and the fortifications and defenses are up. And it was destroyed in a few minutes, by a single person... Just how is that even possible!?" He thought aloud, the thought alone frustrates him.

"Well, if it destroyed the scouting base, that means that that person is an ally of the joined forces of night elves, humans and orcs. It might complicate things, considering that kind of power. Though there will be nothing to fear. I'll contact the Old God to take care of the guy. I'm sure he is already keeping tabs on him." Kil'Jaeden said.

"Make sure he does. He will be a pain in the ass to fight. That's for sure. But I hope N'zoth will take care of him." The dreadlord stated. "You never answered my question though, when will the attack on Nordrassil commence?" He asks.

"In three days." Kil'Jaeden replied.

"So, what's the plan?" Tichondrius said with an evil smile growing on his face.

"I knew you'd ask..."

* * *

**_Meanwhile... on an unknown place._**

Gildarts has finally arrived to his guild, and all of his guildmates are currently on standby. When he entered, he was welcomed by one of the wizards, Mirajane Strauss.

"Welcome back! How was the mission?" She asks cheerfully.

"It went fine, they didn't put up much of a fight." He replied. "Where's Mystogan anyway?" He asks.

"He's away on a mission, he is to neutralize a dreadlord who is in disguise as one of the ship captains. He will be back shortly." She answers in a cheerful manner. "Why don't you come take a drink and have a talk with the master?" She suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea." He said and followed her to the tables. Once he is comfortably sitting on one of the chairs, just right beside the master, she served him his favorite drink. The master himself is drinking some booze, just enjoying the day.

"Master Makarov." Gildarts greeted. The master simply turned to him and smiled. The master is a small old man with simple clothing. And by small, he is just at Gildart's knees.

"Anything you need Gildarts?" The master, Makarov Dreyar, asked.

"Actually, yes. I do need something." He answered. "A while back, an hour after destroying the demon's scouting base at Ashenvale, a group of people consisting of orcs, humans and night elves came to the destroyed base. And I was resting nearby, so I talked to them, and they asked if I can help in the defense of the World Tree, Nordrassil. I said yes, and I am just gonna ask if I can bring a few of ours to the fray." He explained.

"I guess you can. I'll see who is available." The master answered. He took a sip of his drink before continuing. "I will come with you if you want. I'll leave Laxus and Erza in charge when we go. So that means, you can't bring the two S-Class wizards."

"That's great Master! We will go as soon as Mystogan arrives, i'm planning on bringing him along the ride." The Crasher Mage said as he laughed and drank along with the master. A few moments later, the front door opened, and a man wearing a dark blue bandana, silver forehead protector, covering half his face and a green mask which covers the other half of his face. He also wears a dark blue cloak, his arms and legs are covered in bandages. Four magical staves are on his back which are held together by a green strap across his chest, and he carries one stave, which looks like a long wooden staff with a fan-like head. Gildarts quickly stood up from his seat and approached him. Mystogan merely looked at him.

"Greetings Mystogan. Come sit with us at the bar. I got something to tell you." The Crasher Mage said and motioned him to sit beside him.

"So, Mystogan. How did it go?" Makarov asks.

"Fine." Mystogan simply replies.

"Well, Gildarts here is asked to go and help in the defense at Nordrassil, the World Tree at Azeroth. And he is gonna ask if you wanna come with him. I'm going along as well." Makarov explains.

"Okay. I'll go with you. But Master, I would recommend that you don't come with us. Just remain here and do your thing." Mystogan said. A moment of silence followed his statement.

"You know Master. I kind of agree with Mystogan here. We will take care of the defense. You can remain here." Gildarts said.

"Okay fine. You two be careful out there. I wouldn't want to lose another one of you brats." Makarov said as Mystogan and Gildarts stood up from their seats and made their way outside.

"Yeah. We will Master. We'll be gone for a while. Bye!" Gildarts shouted as he waved. Makarov watched as they slowly walked away, towards Azeroth, away from Earthland. Mirajane interrupted his thoughts however.

"Master, everything alright?" She asks.

"Ah, yes, yes. Just worried about those two is all." He replied as he looked away and got back on his drink.

"You know you shouldn't worry right? I mean, that's Gildarts. He can handle anything." She replied with a cheerful smile on her face.

"I guess you're right Mira. Nothing to worry about." The master said with a sigh.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

"Gildarts, what's your plan?" Mystogan asks as they continued walking towards the portal to Azeroth.

"We just go there, help with the defense, and try not to get ourselves killed." He replied with a smile.

"After that what?" The cloaked mage asks again.

"We bid our farewell and go back here. Pretty simple huh?" Gildarts answered.

"What if the defense is unsuccessful and-"

"We just bail out. You could always create a portal or do the Mirror Water to reflect and annihilate." He said before Mystogan can finish.

"Whatever, let's just hope for the best." Mystogan said.

"We'll do whatever's the best we can. So the best outcome will be given." Gildarts said cheerfully. Moments later, they finally arrived at the said portal towards Azeroth...

_At Azeroth, in an unknown location._

"And we're here." The Crasher Mage announced.

"I noticed." Mystogan said sarcastically. Gildarts ignored his response and started his walk towards Nordrassil, eager to introduce Mystogan to the others. As they are walking through, they notice some smoke in a distance, a lot of smoke.

"That doesn't look like a campfire." Gildarts commented. "Let's go check it out and help if they need it." He said as he ran towards the direction of the smoke. Mystogan followed him soon after. Five minutes later, they came across a town getting sacked by demons, led by a dreadlord.

"Slaughter these fools! Don't let anyone survive!" The presumed leader of the advancing demons ordered.

"Stop this at once!" Gildarts shouted. All of the demons turned to look at him and Mystogan. The demons started laughing, the dreadlord merely smirked.

"You two think you can stop a whole demonic army on your own huh? That will be your last mistake. Attack them!" The dreadlord ordered. The demons stop from whatever they are doing and charged at the two Earthland mages. They didn't even stand a chance as they easily killed each and every one of them. The dreadlord immediately realized this. "Pathetic fools. Now i'll have to take care of them both." The dreadlord said angrily. "I am Garanar, and I will be your end. Iron Dragon Roar!" The dreadlord shouted. Then a black tornado of sorts came out of his mouth, which is quickly heading towards the two wizards. They easily jumped out of the way though.

"Gildarts, i'll take care of this. Go and evacuate all the survivors." Mystogan ordered. Gildarts nodded and ran off.

"Oh? So you think you can defeat me all by yourself? Think again!" The demon said and flew towards him at high speed. A barrage of attacks came from the dreadlord, but all of them missed, as Mystogan easily evaded all of the swipes and punches. Then, all of a sudden, Mystogan's body turned into mist, and he reappeared several meters away.

"Skyscraper." Mystogan muttered. He plants all of the magic staves on the ground, then suddenly, the dreadlord is propelled hundreds of meters upward, then suddenly stopped and tied up by four belts. And a huge, terrifying demon breaks out from the sky, and started reaching out to the dreadlord.

"Wha... What kind of magic is this!?" Garanar shouted, terrified. Even though he's a demon himself, he is still scared of the darkness that they live on. Then, all of a sudden, the dreadlord breaks out of the restraints, and everything goes back to normal, the town, the ground, and he is no longer high up in the sky. "That was all an illusion. It won't work on me human!" The dreadlord shouted.

"Ground Shattering Wave." Mystogan muttered. Then, some sort of magical circle appeared on the ground to where the dreadlord is standing, and violet beams came out of the ground and came back down, creating an explosion. Then he heard a laugh, from the explosion. When the dust cleared, the dreadlord's body completely turned into iron, and seemed to only get scratches from the explosion.

"It takes more than that!" Garanar shouted. "Iron Dragon Club!" He shouted. His arm then completely turned to a club and tried to smack Mystogan down, but he avoided it easily. "Stay still human dog!" He demanded angrily. "Iron Dragon Roar!" He shouted.

"Three-layered Magic Circle: Mirror Water." Mystogan muttered. Three magic circles, similar to the one that appeared but just different in size and color. When the tornado-like roar hit the magic circles... it was reflected. Much to the surprise of the dragonslayer. And it completely caught him off guard, hitting him squarely. But it didn't end there. "Five-layered Magic Circle: Sacred Song." He muttered again. Five magic circles appeared right above the dreadlord, who is currently struggling to get up. A concentrated beam of pure magic blasted the dragonslayer, killing him almost instantaneously. Mystogan approached him slowly after that. "I hope you aren't too cocky the next time we meet. Though I doubt we will do so again..." He whispered to him. _'Now, I better go meet up with Gildarts and see how he's doing."_

_Few minutes later..._

"-Okay, everything's under control now!" Gildarts shouted over the survivors. _'The Legion did more damage than I thought. This can't continue. We have to stop them..." _His thoughts were interrupted when Mystogan approached him. "How'd it go?" The Crasher Mage asks.

"It was pretty easy." Mystogan simply said.

"Just as I thought. That guy was just talk." Gildarts commented, laughing. Mystogan said nothing and just observed the panicked citizens. "Now that we're finished here. Let's get back on track and go to Nordrassil." He said as he prepared to leave. Mystogan followed him soon after.

* * *

_**A day and a half later...**_

Nordrassil is finally in sight as the two of Earthland's most powerful wizards made their way towards it. After about thirty minutes or so, they finally made it to the stronghold on Nordrassil. Gildarts can't help but notice that the defenses has been upgraded and ready for anything. They were welcomed by Kaztarel Darrensier upon sight of the Crasher Mage.

"Greetings, Gildarts! So, is this guy..." Kazi asks as he eyed the other mage, Mystogan, from head to toe. Then he noticed the staves on his back. "Whoah, what are those?" The archmage asked as he pointed towards the magical staves that Mystogan carries.

"Magical Staves. I use them for combat." Mystogan simply said. Kazi nodded and continued to inspect each and every stave. Mystogan simply stared at him.

"I never quite caught your name..." Gildarts said.

"Oh, its Kaztarel Darrensier. Or Kazi as the others call me. Come on, let's go, i'll introduce you to the others since we really didn't introduce ourselves to each other back at the destroyed demon base." Kazi said as he motioned for them to follow him. They went into the main stronghold, and joined up the other leaders.

"Emperor Kazi." Varian greeted.

"Greetings, everyone." The emperor of Daresia said. Then he stepped aside and let in Gildarts and Mystogan.

"Greetings. As most of you may know, my name is Gildarts Clive. And let me introduce you to my comrade here. One of the S-Class mages from our guild, Mystogan. As promised I brought someone to help in the defense of Nordrassil. Most of the other mages aren't available, and he's the only one available... so yeah." Gildarts explained. Mystogan merely stood there and looked at everybody. Then everyone introduced themselves, Malfurion, Jaina, Thrall, Cairne, Tyrande, Varian and Bolvar.

"Now that that's aside. Let us discuss the plans for the defense." Malfurion started.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And another chapter done! Sorry for the wait. I promise i'll make it up to you. Short chapter for today. Anyways. What will happen to Arthas and the others as they finally arrived at Outland? Will the defense of Nordrassil be successful? Or would the Legion prevail this time? Would they successfully burn Nordrassil to the ground? You will soon find out. Please leave a review, follow the story or favorite it if it deserves it. I'm begging you, please leave a review! T_T**

**Yeah yeah, Fairy Tail characters are in, Mystogan and Gildarts.**


	9. Judgement Day: Part 1

**Author's Note:  
**

**Greetings again reader! Here's another chapter for you guys. Things are about to get intense... But before that! Recap!**

**Previously... on Scorched Earth.**

**Malfurion and the other leaders received reports about suspicious demonic activity in the valleys and asked Svilen to scout the area at the valley. Once there, Svilen and his companion of knights came across a base. A fortified demonic base. Then they suddenly notice a man, walking straight towards the entrance of the base. He easily annihilated the whole base. They quickly reported back to Nordrassil and told them about the man. They quickly went back to the demon base and found the man. They asked the man, who introduced himself as Gildarts, to help them in the defense of the World Tree. The Crasher Mage agreed without hesitation, and told them that he will bring along a few friends. Meanwhile, Arthas and his companions have finally made it to the Dark Portal, but the only thing that's keeping them from entering is a squad of powerful demons, with them is none other than Detheroc. Stichondrius also started to aid the frost dragon slayer. And a fierce battle ensued with the scourge leaders winning. In an unknown location... Gildarts made it to his guild. He stayed around for a bit, talked to the master, and when one of his most powerful guildmates arrived, he invited him to help him in the defense of Nordrassil, the man's name is Mystogan, and he agreed but with one condition. It was for the master of the guild not to go with them. The master reluctantly agreed, the two then started on their journey towards the World Tree, and in a day and a half, they made it there safely. But not without obstacles... Along the way, they came across a village which is under attack by The Burning Legion, the one leading them is a dreadlord named Garanor, who happens to be a metal Dragonslayer. Mystogan easily defeated the demon, and Gildarts successfully evacuated the citizens of the village. Once they made it to the Tree, they discussed their plans in the defense, and introduced themselves to the faction leaders.**

**And there's the recap people! Now, let thy story continue!**

* * *

**Judgement Day: Part 1**

_**One day before the Legion's attack at the World Tree...**_

_Battle rages across the forests. The fate of Azeroth is in the hands of the heroes defending Nordrassil. But there was something amiss... someone is watching on the mountains, someone of great power, power that even all of the heroes defending the World Tree combined paled in comparison. This man burns with hatred and malice, or is he a man? No, he is something else. Such power could not be attained by any human being. However, all of a sudden, his power diminished, no... he reduced his power on purpose, upon sight of the war that is occurring below, he noticed someone, who's power is almost as great as his... but he decided to test the man, and so he put a dampener on his power and teleported, in front of the man and challenged him to a duel... Then everything went blurry, then everything went black..._

_Then it went foggy, when the vision totally cleared... chaos... destruction... death and decay._

_"You have failed..." A demonic voice said. Then it become louder, kept repeating the same words over and over..._

Medivh woke up with a jolt. Sweat pouring down his face, his clothes all wet because of the sweat. "What was just that...?" He thought aloud. _'Was that... a vision?' _He thought to himself. Then shook his head. _'No... No... it can't. NO!'_

"Medivh, the Last Guardian of Tirisfal... Daughter of Aegwynn..." A demonic voice said and he laughed maliciously.

_'That voice is oddly familiar... Wait.. its the voice in my dream!' _Medivh thought to himself. "Show yourself!" He shouted out loud. Then a man wearing a dark-colored gi, with reddish-black hair, ropes on his hand which functions like gloves, with prayer beads on his neck and wearing sandals walked into Medivh's field of vision.

"Even in your human form, I can still tell its you, Sargeras." The Prophet commented.

"Fool, save your breath. You'll need it to scream when I vanquish you into oblivion" Sargeras threatened.

_'There is no turning back now. There is no way I can defeat him.' _He thought to himself. Then he positioned himself into battle stance. Sargeras did the same, and immediately engaged him in battle. Medivh unleashed a barrage of powerful spells, with a finale, releasing a ball of highly-explosive energy, heading straight for Sargeras. The demon simply smiled.

"Messatsu..." He said, his whole body burned in red flames, his right hand glowing purely of demonic energy. "Gouhadou!" He shouted, then he released all of the energy that he built up on his right hand. The balls of energy collided, destroying everything in the vicinity except for the the Prophet and Sargeras. "I have to say... I'm impressed. It seems that you have grown stronger." The demon commented. Medivh completely ignored his comment and charged another projectile. "But you are still arrogant!" Sargeras shouted as Medivh released another ball of explosive energy. He went through the ball, without it exploding on him, seemingly phasing through it in a gliding position, with one leg up and the other down, much to the surprise of The Prophet and catching him off guard. He charged at the man and did an uppercut, easily knocking Medivh back. Then, Sargeras jumped up, and released a ball of energy heading straight for Medivh, though not as big as the previous one. The prophet easily dodged it, but was not expecting Sargeras to appear right in front of him and kick him in the face while in mid-air. "You have failed..." Sargeras said in the exact same tone as in the vision. "Prepare yourself!" He shouts.

He crouched in a way that his legs are outstretched...

_'Well, this is it then...'_

His arms raised on his sides, his fists clenched...

_'I have really failed.'_

With red flames engulfing his whole body...

_'The fate of the world now lies in mortal hands...'_

Then, he glided to Medivh in the same position as when he phased through his attack...

_'But with Sargeras on the battlefield...'_

Once in range, Sargeras grabbed Medivh...

_'There is no telling what could happen...'_

and all Medivh saw was the great demon, with his hands ready to attack, kanjis appeared just to the sides of Sargeras which are...

一瞬千撃

"Die one thousand deaths!" Everything went black. Just before the first blow was felt, Medivh's life flashed before his face. All the happy times, all the sad times that he experienced...

Then the scream of the victim and roar of a demon is heard. Then everything became visible again. With Medivh down on the ground, his face frozen in terror and in a soundless scream, his eyes transparent and staring into nothingness. His body is nothing more than an empty shell, as the soul of the Last Guardian has been shattered, and the pieces scattered, into the unending abyss of nothingness. Sargeras simply walked away, disappeared without a trace.

* * *

_**Somewhere else... on the same day...**_

An elderly yet well-built man meditated in the middle of nowhere. He sports bandages around his forearms, a single prayer bead on his neck, a very thick rope that loops on his back with two ropes jutting upwards and the thick rope ending and securing his karate gi pants.

His left eye slowly opened. "He... is here." He thought. And he stood up gracefully. He took a deep breath, raised his hand just below his face, and put them down once he released his breath. Dust and leaves flew away from him like a strong force of wind pushed them away.

Then he starts walking... towards the World Tree...

* * *

_**Later... the same day.**_

Malfurion and the others suddenly had shivers, they felt power... immense power somewhere on Azeroth.

"What was that just now?" Bolvar asked to no one in particular.

"Such power. It isn't anything i've ever felt before." Gildarts commented.

"Yet it reeks with malicious intent." Mystogan stated as he stared into the horizon. "There is also something else that I couldn't explain..." He added.

"Come on. Let's get back on track. Scouts reported that the demons are preparing. The Burning Legion may attack in a day or so. By then, our defenses will be ready for anything. Though with Kil'Jaeden... we made additional defenses. Mana Bombs, Highly-Explosive Energy Cannons, Lightning Particle Cannon, and several others. All thanks to the technology that Daresia handed us." Malfurion explained. Then he looked at Kazi, and nodded.

"Yes, that's right. And our ultimate defensive cannon, The Chrono Cannon. Let me explain what it does exactly. It fires off a ball, which upon contact with anything, creates a time rift at a three hundred meter radius. What the time rift does is that all of those in the radius of the rift disappears, into the endless void of time. Extremely lethal. Also, thanks to the technology developed by Daresia, Chrono cannons are now portable. We have equipped Gevanson with these portable babies. It gives him the power to teleport in a blink of an eye, and they have the portable chrono cannons which upon fire releases a beam which does the same thing as the time rift except that it can only be used on one object. We also equipped him with heavy armor, which shouldn't hinder their movement speed as they teleport throughout the battlefield. Zhug has another type of advanced weaponry since he is the only one who can survive such conditions. He is equipped with the acid sprayer, which dissolves anything it comes in contact with, and the acid cannon, which does the same thing except it can go for longer ranges and does splash damage. Krell has special elemental armor and weaponry. Which obviously allows him to control all four elements. Fire, water, earth, and air." Kaztarel explained thoroughly.

"This is definitely something." Gildarts commented as he smiled.

"Agreed." Mystogan affirmed.

"Are there any questions?" Kazi asked. Silence. "I guess none. Well then, come in Gev!" The mage commanded. Then, a heavily-armored man entered the room, with a weird looking cannon-ish thing, and some sort of device on its back which is connected to the weapon that Gev wields.

"How do I look?" He asks.

"Weird." Gildarts comments. Gev just shrugged at his comment.

"Okay, Krell! You're next!" Kazi shouted. Then, another heavily armored man, presumably Krell entered. With a much stranger armor, which looks like its made out of metal. "So, his armor is special elemental armor which grants him complete control over the elements and also reduces the damage of elemental attacks." The emperor explains.

"Impressive technology you got Emperor Kaztarel." Mystogan comments.

"Thanks." Kazi replies with a smile. "Zhug! Come in!" he shouted. Then, a man in heavy and scary armor entered. Two containers with green fluid inside are on the sides of its head, and Zhug's face is completely covered, "vents" are the only thing that allows him to see from the inside of the armor. Shoulder plates with the symbol of Daresia on both plates are equipped. The weapons holstered on its waist looks like gas pumps, with a of the green fluid dripping on them.

"Menacing." Bolvar comments.

"Definitely it is. Its as terrifying as it looks on the battlefield. With this armor and weaponry, Zhug can annihilate entire infantry divisions by himself, melting enemies to their bones with the most potent acid available." Kazi comments with a smile on his face.

"Desolation Power!" Zhug exclaims. Then, a druid enters all of a sudden.

"Pardon me Arch Druid, but the Aspects have arrived." The messenger informs.

"Great. I'll go and welcome them myself. Anyone else coming with me?" Malfurion asks.

"Aspects...? What are they?" Gildarts asked curiously.

"Oh. They are just the most powerful dragons, entrusted in protecting Azeroth from any evil and keeping balance to this world. Have you ever met a dragon Gildarts?" Malfurion explains.

"Yeah, it didn't end up well." The Crasher Mage said as he showed his arm and his leg. "Notice that my arm looks like its covered in metal. Its not covered. Its made out of metal, I lost my real arm when I encountered a dragon named Acnologia. Same goes with my leg. And see these scars on my chest? I got them from its claws. It decapitated my arm and gutted me before I knew it." He explains with a scowl on his face.

"Never heard of such dragon. Of what kind was it?" Thrall asked.

"I'm not entirely sure." Gildarts answered. "Anyways... I'll go with you great druid." He added.

"Anyone else?" Malfurion asks.

"I'll go." The Earth Warder says.

"I'll go too." Varian said. Jaina followed,and so did Mystogan, Bolvar, Kazi, Thrall, Cairne and the Triumvirates chose to stay.

"Okay, let us go. Follow me please." The messenger said. The leaders followed closely after him along with Gildarts. Once outside, they were greeted by a few more druids and archers. After a few minutes, they finally made it to the base of the World Tree, there sat four great dragons, a red, a blue, a green, and a bronze one.

"Whoah! They're massive! Even bigger than Acnologia!" Gildarts comments with eyes as wide as saucers.

"Greetings, Arch Druid. Earth Warder, King of Stormwind." Alexstrasza greets. "Who are these two?" She asks as she eyed Gildarts and Mystogan curiously.

"Ah, let me introduce you to them. They are from another world I believe. They agreed to help us in the defense against the Legion. I assure you that their intentions are good. The one with his face covered in a cloak is Mystogan. And the one with orange hair is Gildarts Clive." Malfurion introduced.

"Greetings." Gildarts said as the two of them bowed down.

"Greetings." Alexstrasza replied. "I sense... great magic power from both of you. I can sense that your intentions are as good as the faction leaders. Welcome to Azeroth." Alexstrasza said. "I suppose introductions are in order. I am Alexstrasza the Life Binder, the Aspect of the Red Dragonflight." She introduced.

"I am Kalecgos. The Aspect of Magic. The Successor of Malycgos the Spell Weaver, the former Aspect of Magic. I currently lead the Blue Dragonflight... or what's left of it." Kalecgos introduced.

"I am Ysera the Dreamer. The Aspect of the Green Dragonflight." Ysera said.

"I am Nozdormu the Timeless One. The Aspect of Time. Leader of the Bronze Dragonflight." Nozdormu introduced.

"Now that that's settled. Let us get into the plans." Malfurion said. "The Legion is expected to attack tomorrow. Their forces are currently preparing for battle as we speak. Those who are capable of close combat and are proficient at magic, please raise your hand." The druid asked. Mystogan, Gildarts, Thrall, Varian, Cairne and The Triumvirates raised their hands. "Are everyone who raised their hands okay with being on the front lines?" He asks again. Nods and a chorus of "yes" are heard and Malfurion nodded. Those who didn't raise their hands will act as support. Everyone got it?" Another series of nods and affirms. "So let's get into the positions, key points, locations...

* * *

**_The day after that..._**

"This is the day my friends... The day where the great defense will happen. The defense that will determine the fate of Azeroth and all of the races that inhabits it. Today, we shall give it all our best! We shall not let the demons defile this sacred tree!" Malfurion shouted as he raised his staff high up in the air. Cries of determination sounded after his statement.

"Now is the time! Don't let the demons triumph!" Varian shouted. The sound of horns and warcries sounded all of a sudden. "Looks like... they are here." The king of Stormwind thought aloud. Then he looked at the faces of the combined forces of Azeroth, he saw different expressions from all of them. Anger, the face of determination, worry... but the most dominant of them all is fear. _'That's not necessarily a bad thing... fear is what keeps us going...' _he contemplated...

"Everyone! Assume proper positions! Defend Nordrassil at all costs!" Malfurion ordered with a face of determination and anger.

"Give them no quarter men!" Svilen ordered to his band of knights, which are now increased by ten. Thirty highly trained knights.

"Let e'm have it Daresians! Don't be shy!" Kazi ordered with a grin.

"Lok'tar Ogar! For the Horde! For Azeroth!" Thrall roared. The elements roared alongside him in furiosity.

"I got nothing else to say men. Other than to give it your all!" Varian encouraged. Bolvar raised his sword high in the sky, and everyone present followed, raised their weapons.

**"FOR AZEROTH!"**

* * *

Amidst the shouts and warcries, someone watched them from a distance, hidden from view. The man smiled as he saw them raise their weapons and shout. "The Azerothians bond with its planet and the world tree will never be broken... no matter how long." He thought to himself as he smiled. Then his smile faded all of a sudden...

"He's out here too... observing. Waiting... for the right moment to strike. Until then... I won't join any battle. All my energy has to be reserved for such battle." He said to himself as he looked around.

* * *

"I can sense them again..." Mystogan said to Gildarts as they ran to their positions. Behind them is an army of combined night elves, humans and orcs.

"Sense what?" The Crasher Mage asked as he looked at him and raised his eyebrow.

"The powerful energies. Though I can't seem to pinpoint their exact location. I can sense that both are here." He explains as he looked around.

"Whatever they are, we still don't know if the ones possessing such power are enemies or not. But until then, we must be careful." Gildarts replied. Then they arrived at their position, the demons already assaulting the towers that defended the checkpoint. The Crasher grinned as he saw the demons. "Let's go hell hunting..."

* * *

"Get ready. We are nearing the checkpoint." Kaztarel shouted over to the army he is leading. The Triumvirates are right behind him, ready to strike at a moment's notice. When they finally arrived at the said checkpoint, an army of demons assaulted the towers, Azerothians desperately pushing them back. The odds turned to their favor however as Kazi and his army arrived and immediately attacked the demons trying to get through their defenses. Suddenly, pit lords charged out of the demons ranks and immediately intercepted them...

* * *

"Prepare yourselves! The checkpoint grows near!" Varian shouted. Bolvar, Svilen and Jaina behind him. In a distance, an explosion sounded, followed by another shortly after.

"Let us hurry. It seems like they could use a hand." Bolvar said to Varian.

"Quicken your paces! Come on! Go! Go! Go!" Varian shouted as he ran faster towards their supposed checkpoint. Once they arrived, they saw three towers already down and another on fire. Three red dreadlords led the army of demons.

"CHARGE!"

* * *

Malfurion and an army behind him quickly ran to their positions of defense. Tyrande is already defending the checkpoint to where they were going. _'Please be okay my love.'_

Once they arrived. They saw five gigantic infernal and one gigantic pit lord that is taller than the rest. The Arch Druid quickly shouted orders and so they started their defense with a barrage of attacks to the pit lord and the infernals.

* * *

"Let us hurry my warriors! They need help!" Thrall shouted. Cairne and a recently arrived Rexxar right behind him. Rokhan and Vol'Jin are already defending the checkpoint to where they were going.

In a moment, a group of dreadlords suddenly landed from the sky. Cutting them off...

"Go Thrall. I can handle this." Rexxar ordered.

"What!?" The Warchief interjected.

"Just go!" The Beastmaster shouted back. Thrall looked at him with uncertainty, but after a few seconds, he nodded and commanded that the army move and that Rexxar will handle the obstacle. As they ran away towards the checkpoint, one of the dreadlords started towards the army, before being cut off abruptly by a flying axe, almost hitting his head and decapitating him.

"I'm here... Come! Let us celebrate your demise!" The Beastmaster said as he caught his axe, which flew back to him...

* * *

But amidst the chaos and bloodshed, a single figure watched over all of the battles... atop a volcano.

"Who... is this man? Such power. He would prove to be a challenge!" he shouted. Then he flew up, and slammed back down to the crater of the volcano...

It exploded, from the inside. Magma, burning rocks and debris flew about. And the man came out, completely unscathed. He laughed maniacally as he flew towards his target.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry sorry for the long wait! I was pretty busy with school. My schedule was really packed. I'll pump out another one in a week! That's a promise! I'm in a good mood today, so i'll continue writing the story since its heating up! This chapter is pretty short since its just the first part, the second part will be really long. And I hope worth the wait. Sorry for leaving in a cliffhanger...**

**Please leave a review. And i'll see you in the next chapter!**

**Adieu, mon'ami...**


	10. Judgement Day, Part 2: He Who Purifies

**Greetings Reader!**

**Another chapter! No recaps for you since... I know, you hunger for more. And... are too lazy to scroll... Anyways... Here's chapter 10!**

* * *

**Judgement Day: Part 2: He Who Purifies**

"Crash!" Gildarts shouted as he opened his palm. The swords of the demons and every non-living thing in the vicinity shattered. With that being said, the demons are now left naked, both figuratively and literally.

"So... come on. Fight me hand to hand!" The S-Class mage said as he motioned them to attack him. They did not hesitate, and started towards him. Punches, kicks and spells flew about, all of them missing Gildarts. However, every punch the mage threw landed home, and did a lot of knockback and damage. He kept this up for three minutes before finally ending it with another crash magic attack. "That was way too boring..." He thought aloud. Then he glanced over his shoulder to see if Mystogan is doing alright. Thankfully he is, and he is beating the crap out of the demons with his staves.

Something flew overhead all of a sudden.

"Fools!" A voice roared. "What is taking you so long to slaughter these insects!? Do I have to take care of them myself!?" It shouted. The demons tried to find the source of the voice with fear in their eyes as they knew full well who it was. Then a lightning struck the ground a few meters in front of Gildarts. The demons jumping out of their skin in fear and surprise.

"I am Laxus of the Nathrezim! The heavens obey to my command! DIE!" He shouted. Then all of a sudden, a lightning struck at Gildarts, hitting him directly.

The lightning barely scratched him. His cape however, is a different story. It was torn into in some parts, with an eighth of it torn off completely.

"Is that all you got? Come on... I would expect more from one of said demons. Specially the Nathrezim. It seems no one here even holds up a candle against me." Gildarts said as he smirked.

"Your arrogance will be the death of you human dog!" Laxus said. He turned his body into lightning and almost instantly, got into melee range of Gildarts. He unleashed a barrage of lightning-fast punches. But all are blocked and parried. When the mage got the opening he needed, he did a palm strike to the chest, which sent the dreadlord flying and crashing to the ground.

"Just as I thought."

"I'm not done fool!" The dreadlord shouted in anger, and threw a lightning bolt at Gildarts. Against all odds he avoided it. And another, and another.

"Show me your power. I can sense that you are holding back. Come on. Don't be shy..." He said as he grinned.

"You will regret this in hell..." The demon replied. His body got completely engulfed in lightning. With bolts striking everywhere near him.

"Mystogan, put up a barrier that'll keep the army safe and everything else around here. Things are about to get really messy." Gildarts ordered. The other mage nodded and started to put up a defensive barrier just as instructed.

"Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!"

It almost caught Gildarts off guard, but he still blocked it.

"Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halbeard!" Laxus shouted. The Crasher Mage however, jumped out of the way. And it simply exploded on the ground. All of a sudden, Laxus is right in front of Gildarts...

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!" He roared. He strikes Gildarts with a lightning imbued fist, a huge amount of lightning was released as the attack was blocked. But, with it being blocked, Gildarts was blown back five meters away.

The mage suddenly laughed and said. "You aren't playing around now. That's what i'm talking about..." He said to the dreadlord. "Now, I was just warming up. I think its time to get serious..." He said. His body glowed in the same fashion when he destroyed the demon base. "Game on baby." He murmured. Laxus simply went into battle position. However, nothing could have prepared him for what's coming. Gildarts suddenly appeared in front of him, and sent a Crash Magic imbued fist to the face, making him fly to the army of demons who are completely petrified with all the power being released. The Lightning Dragon Slayer quickly went into his lightning body and flew towards the Crasher, did a drop kick to him, much to the Slayer's surprise, Gildarts grabbed his foot in a firm hold, and threw him down on the ground, face first, before picking him up again and throwing him to a huge boulder.

"Gaagh!" The dreadlord shouted as he coughed out blood. He looked up to see Gildarts glaring down on him.

"It's time to put you out of your misery I guess." He thought aloud. The dreadlord's eyes widened instantaneously.

"No! Please I-"

Crrk!

The boulder shattered to hundreds of pieces. The dreadlord appeared unharmed though.

"Bring him to the main base. Interrogate him." Gildarts said in a serious tone. The dreadlord breathed a sigh of relief as he calmed himself down, but fear is still evident in his eyes. Then, he was dragged away, back to the main base to be interrogated.

"That was overkill." Mystogan said as he stood by The Crasher's side.

"Did I overdo it again?" The other said sheepishly.

Mystogan just shrugged. "I'll round up the troops, most of them have their jaws on the ground."

Gildarts nodded. _'I wonder how he keeps his voice devoid of emotion. Hell, I don't even know if he's joking sometimes.'_

_Whoosh!_

Gildarts looked up in the sky, suddenly alert. _'I sense great power.'_ Then something dark slammed down on the ground near the army they were leading. Causing a shockwave and knocking the army and Mystogan flat on their backs.

"What the-"

_Whack!_

Mystogan suddenly flew into the woods.

At this point, The Crasher Mage finally got tired of looking for his opponent. "Show yourself!" He demanded.

_**"Hahahahaha! Very well!" **_A voice that sounded like it ate rocks for everything said. Something then crashed to the ground, and a man stood in the middle. The same man who killed Medivh.

Gildarts eyed him up and down,"Who are you!?"

_**"Tell you what... i'll tell you who I am, that is if you defeat me." **_The man said, his voice seething with malicious intent.

"You are up for the challenge..." Gildarts said seriously. His body glowed... that simple projection of power is enough to make other lesser demons fall to their knees. His opponent simply grinned, and just stood there. The mage raised his eyebrow, but didn't bother saying anything and charged at him. Sargeras' grin grew wider. The Crasher threw in a punch, imbued with pure crash magic. But was surprisingly blocked rather effortlessly by the demon. Then he threw another with his left, the demon raising his hand to block it, but was shocked when the magic left the mage's hand, and down on the ground right below them.

An explosion sounded as the mage's magic destroyed everything in the blast radius, but both of them are unscathed.

_**"Impressive for a human."**_ The demon said. _**"But i'm afraid that's not enough."**_It added as he kicked the mage. The man blocked the attack, but was blown back ten feet away by the force. It caused dust to kick up around Gildarts, blinding him. Until, he made it swirl and disappear. But the demon is nowhere to be found. He was suddenly hit by a drop kick from behind, making him stagger, but he quickly recovered, and shattered the shadow blast that was heading his way.

**"Very well." **The Gildarts Clive suddenly said in a frightening voice. He disappeared, and the next thing Sargeras knew is that he is hit square in the jaw, and another to the chest, and to the face, making him crash down on the ground. But the mage is far from finished, he made everything fifty feet away from where the demon crashed explode, when suddenly ten layered magic circle formed around where the demon crashed, surrounding the crash site around thirty feet.

"Ten Layered Magic Circle: Rhythym!"

A thin green beam hit the ground in the middle of all then circles. And then exploding.

"Let's finish this Gildarts!"

"You're on Mystogan!"

**"Twenty Layered Magic Circle: Symphony of Destruction!"**

Twenty magic circles, formed around where Sargeras stood, and the dust cleared suddenly. The demon found that he couldn't move, and looked to find the two mages muttering incantations. _**"What are you two doing!?"**_

The demon's body began to glow... brighter and brighter, until it was too bright to see without going blind. And the magic circles grew in size, and began to distance themselves from their target. Suddenly, Sargeras flew up in the sky, and twenty beams of concentrated magic blasted the demon... for full thirty seconds. Birds and other creatures of the forest all started to go away from the bright light which lit up the entire continent, probably even the entire Azeroth.

* * *

_**Somewhere else...**_

_'Just who are they?' _He thought to himself. The man kept on observing the epic battle from a distance, he could see Sargeras shooting up the sky, and then twenty beams blasting the demon. Even though seemingly impossible, the sheer force and power of the attack began cracking the very space... The man's eyes widened... "Only one man could possibly do that!" He thought aloud. He gazed back at the cracking space, astonished.

* * *

Thrall could only watch in pure shock as he saw a bright light in a distance. The very space cracking didn't help that much as his jaw hung open. "That's exactly where Gildarts and Mystogan are!" He exclaimed. After thirty seconds, the crack right in the middle of the air was visible. And he saw something fall back down on the ground, smoking.

* * *

Gildarts and Mystogan smiled to themselves as they had successfully defeated the demon. As they approached however...

_Whack!_

Mystogan and Gildarts flew several hundred feet.

The army of combined orcs, humans and night elves all have an expression of pure terror, as the demon, Sargeras, appeared relatively unscathed.

_**"**_**Fools! If you ever thought that was enough, then you are mistaken!"** Sargeras growled as he glared at the two mages.

**"Perhaps." **Said a mysterious voice.

A loud crash sounded, and another.

Sargeras flew several hundred feet, destroying trees as he crashed on them.

**"Everyone, retreat. This man is not someone you would like to go toe to toe with." **The recently arrived man said as he adapted a fighting pose. Gildarts simply looked in complete shock. **"No questions asked. GO!"**

Mystogan pulled The Crasher back as the man continued to stare at the man.

_'It can't be him... that's impossible.' _He thought to himself. _'I saw him... die with my own eyes.'_

"Gildarts! Snap out of it!"

"Whoah! What? What the hell's going on?" He thought as he looked around. He was completely distracted by his train of thought that he didn't even notice that he was being pulled back by his partner. "Let go of me man! I can walk!" He shouted. The other mage did as he was asked. The Crasher brushed the dust off his clothes, and started to run beside Mystogan...

* * *

_**Back at the battle against Sargeras...**_

**"How dare you!"** Sargeras roared as he threw a punch at the man. The man parried it, and countered with a palm strike to the chest, making the demon stagger back. He didn't stop there, he fired off a beam of pure energy, blasting the demonlord away, and making him howl in pain and fury.

**"You have caused too much devastation to others. And for that you cannot be forgiven. Now you shall be punished in the name of Aman'Thul the High Father!" **He shouted. **"I am Gouken the Purifier! Servant of the Pantheon. Right hand of Aggramar the Avenger! And I will be the one... who will purify the very soul that made it his objective to destroy... everything that the Titans made!"**

**"Fool... why can't the members of Pantheon face me themselves?" **The Lord of the Burning Legion asked as he laughed. **"My guess is they fear me. They fear my Legion!" **He roared as he flew in great speeds towards Gouken. The latter flew towards him, determined to intercept him and take him down. The two clashed against each other, like light against darkness, good against evil. Sargeras' body was engulfed in pure black flames, and Gouken's glowed a pure white hue, and like fireworks in the sky, they made quite a display as they clashed, at high speeds they glided through the air, high in the air they collided, then separated, then over and over again.

**"This is going nowhere!" **Gouken said as he stopped. Sargeras did the same, and they both stared at each other, in pure determination to take the other down. **"Why don't you just give up?" **

**"Perhaps it is you who should give up." **The Destroyer said with a malicious smile. **"After all, what could a right hand of a pathetic guardian of the creations could do against The Destroyer of Worlds?"**

**"I could do just enough to eliminate you."**

**"You seem to be unsure."**

**"We'll see about that."**

And so they proceeded, Gouken fired off a beam of light, and Sargeras fired off a beam of pure darkness. The Purifier managed to grab the demon lord off guard, and throw him down on the ground, but he recovered in mid fall, and flew back up and hit Gouken with an uppercut.

**"Gah! Beam of the Oblivion!" **The Destroyer of Worlds shouted. He opened his palm in the direction of his enemy, and fired off a beam that was colored black and a hint of green and violet. The titan barely had time to react as the beam hit him, and made him crash back down on the forests, with Sargeras following him closely. They both crashed on the ground, and continued to try to take each other out. Gouken's body suddenly looked liquified, but then solidified all of a sudden right at the Destroyer's back.

The demon was hit by a palm strike, and another, and another, before The Right Hand of the Avenger delivered a powerful uppercut that sent the demon flying up in the sky. But he was not done yet. Ducked down, flew at high speeds upward, and punched the demon to the stomach. A loud crunch and a bang was heard, much akin to a sonic boom, then an uppercut, and a final beam of holy light that sent the demon packing.

**"Stop it Sargeras! Or i'll be forced to banish you..." **Gouken said threateningly as his eyes narrowed. The demon was suddenly right in front of him- who delivered a flurry of punches, kicks, and just pure magic attacks at The Purifier. The latter managed to avoid and block all of the attacks, rather effortlessly. **"Your attacks seem more sluggish!" **He shouted as he delivered a double-palm strike to the stomach, sending the demon flying to a nearby tree, snapping it in half. The Dark Titan lay on the ground, breathing heavily.** "I waited a long time for this." **Gouken said in a cold voice. **"You dishonored the Pantheon... and you will never be forgiven, therefor... I Gouken the Purifier, by my authority, executes you for the crimes you committed against all of the living."**

But there was a smile on the Dark Titan's face. **"Very well..."**

The sound of blood splattering, bones cracking, and a howl of pain was heard.

And Gouken lay on the ground motionless, with blood on his chest, and Sargeras stood on his corpse, with blood on his hands.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Alright! There's a chapter! Sorry for the long wait...**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and i'll see you once again on the next chapter, whenever that'll be. Sorry for the short chapter.**

**What will happen now that Gouken is dead? Sargeras still roams freely around Azeroth...**

**Will the titans finally intervene?**

**And... what the hell happened to Arthas?**

**You will find that out in the next chapter, which I think will be longer...**

**Merci d'avoir lu.**


	11. The Return of the Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

**Bonjour... here's the next chapter... and be sure to read the note at the end, there's a very special announcement there.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Return of the Nightmare**

The sound of blood splattering, bones cracking and a howl of pain was heard.

And Gouken lay on the ground motionless, with blood on his chest, and Sargeras stood on his corpse, with blood on his hands. The Fallen Titan laughed victoriously as he looked down on his opponent.

**"Now that that's dealt with..." **Sargeras said, **"Time to continue what I was supposed to do here." **He said as he started to walk away.

Suddenly, he felt a jolt of pain throughout his body. He grunted in pain as he fell on his knees.

**"You got hit by the Purifying Beam of Light... that's why." **A voice from behind him said suddenly. It was none other than Gouken... he's still alive. Barely. Then it struck the demon, the beam of holy light that struck him while both of them were in mid-air. **"I made sure... that I will... be able to kill you... whatever happens. That beam... caused a ball of pure light... to enter your system. That ball will slowly but surely eat your soul... or if it's not able to... it will simply detonate from inside of you and obliterate everything within a fifty mile radius." **He explained as he struggled to speak. He coughed up blood as he finished his sentence.

**"Fool! There's no way this could take me down. I am Sargeras! The Destroyer of the Worlds! The- Argh!"**

**"It's already taking effect. There's nothing else you could do... Your death is certain demon."** Gouken said.

**"Shut up!"** The demonlord roared as he fired off a beam of darkness, ending The Purifier's life. Then he suddenly coughed out blood. Groaning in pain, he stood up, determined to live. **"You got lucky Titan! But this will not be the end of me! Never!" **He shouted. Then he muttered incantations, and started to conjure a portal back to their base.

* * *

_**Somewhere in Outland...**_

"How many days has it been?"

"We don't know my King."

"We've been traveling aimlessly through this blasted wasteland for days! Where are we supposed to go?"

"Be quiet Baron! We'll find a place to rest soon."

Arthas and his Scourge commanders have been traveling around Outland, they found no sign of life... nothing at all. Not even a broken down building or a simple footprint at the red sand of the planet.

"Let's hurry, I think I see something from the distance." Arthas announced as his eyes narrowed to a structure that was several miles away. The commanders agreed wordlessly and started to quicken their pace. After two hours of walking, they neared the structure to find that it was not just a structure... it was a whole base... an orc base. It's definitely occupied... guards were guarding the perimeter... blocking any way in without detection.

"That's unfortunate..." Baron commented as he looked around. "Let's fight our way in."

"Idiot, we're obviously outnumbered!" Anub'arak said as he glared at the death knight.

"Got something better bug?" The Death Knight retorted.

"Why you-!"

"Okay, that's enough." Arthas said as he got in between the two. "No point in fighting." He said with Kel'thuzad nodding in agreement.

"What do you suggest we do my king?" The Arch-lich asked.

"Let's observe for now. If we rush in head on... we will put our lives in danger. We don't know their exact numbers, skills, their defenses..." He replied as he looked looked at the base... analyzing every bit of detail he could see. "Let's wait until nightfall, for now we observe. Find the best way to put this base under our control."

"I'll send in a beetle to take a better look at the base from the inside." Anub'arak suggested.

"Good idea." Arthas said. The Nerubian Traitor King started summoning a bug, then instructed it, then it flew to the base.

* * *

_A few hours later..._

The bug finally came back.

"That took far too long." Baron commented.

Anub'arak started to commune with the bug, and after a few moments, Anub'arak nodded, and the bug disappeared, in a puff of smoke.

"Alright... So... the base is quite big... no more than a hundred and fifty kilometers across. It's more like a fortified city actually. It's military power is pretty decent, as the bug said. Not as powerful as the ones on Azeroth, but the military is used to keep order around the city. According to the bug... most of the footmen are pretty young, they probably haven't even seen a war before. It's defensive structures are just the ones you can see from the outside... it's just those towers." Anub'arak explained as he pointed at the towers.

"We will sneak in during the night. Wipe out all of the guards, raise them back as undead, and completely overwhelm the city." Arthas said.

"Sounds easy enough." Baron commented.

"Let's not get overconfident... three high ranking military personnel are inside the place. One is a blademaster... the other two? They're demon hunters." The Nerubian added.

"What? Demon hunters huh... they will surely prove to be a challenge." Arthas said with an eager smile. "Frostmourne hungers..."

"Alright, so... we will wait until nightfall. Then we shall strike." Kel'thuzad repeated.

* * *

_**Nightfall...**_

"Alright. Everyone ready?" Arthas asked. He got responses of agreements. "Let's go."

The remnants of the scourge finally went out of their hiding spot. And stealthily they walked towards the orc base.

"You all wait here, i'll climb up on the walls... it would be suicide to rush in to the gates." The Lich King commanded.

"Yes my king. Shall we kill anyone who gets too close?" Kel'thuzad asked.

"Only if they see you." Arthas replied as he started to scale the walls. He used his frost magic to embed his hands and feet on the walls, granting him an easy way to get up the high fortress walls. Just as he almost reached the edge, he looked around to see if there are guards nearby. Finding none, he quickly jumped and hid in the shadows. Sneaking up behind the nearest guard, he snapped the orc scout's neck, killing him completely, then he sneaked to the next, killed him, then the next, then the next... After he was done, he smiled at his handiwork- a bunch of orc guards with their necks twisted in a weird position. Quite disturbing, but he has seen far more disturbing things. Once he was satisfied that there are no more guards patrolling nearby, he signaled his companions, gave an "all clear" signal, then motioned them to get up the walls.

"Hmm... quite a sight there milord." Kel'thuzad commented.

"Eh, just raise them back as undead." Arthas commanded. The arch-lich did as he was commanded and started to use his necromantic magic to raise the guards and make them one of their own. Once he was finished, several undead ghouls stood in front of him.

"Whom do you serve?" Kel'thuzad asked with a frightening voice full of malicious intent.

"Ze Lich King!" The ghouls said unanimously.

"They're German?" Baron asked.

"Shut up." Kel'thuzad said.

"Get serious you two." Arthas said abruptly. "Alright, so you three eliminate any remaining guards below, raise them back, then start slaughtering the townsfolk, raise an army of undead, level the entire city, we will use this base as our main base of operations."

"How about you my King? Where are you gonna go?" Kel'thuzad asked inquisitively.

"I will go to that building." The Lich King said as he pointed to a large building that soared high above the rest, and stood out. "It must be where the generals of this orc base are correct?"

"Yes My King." Anub'arak replied.

"I'll go there, kill the generals,and I will raise them from the dead personally." He said darkly. "Now, hurry you three, bring these ghouls with you and slaughter everyone you see!" he ordered as he jumped off of the walls, he landed on the ground with a powerful thud, the dust below him getting blown away by the force. He ran at full speed towards the structure, killing any orcs that tried to intercept him. _'These orcs sure prove to be troublesome. I hope Kel'thuzad and the others wouldn't have much issues with these orcs. Now, I better just slide with ice to save time.'_ he thought to himself as he stabbed another orc. He started to conjure runic ice magic on his hands, and blasted the ground in front of him. He created some sort of boots that granted him the ability to slide on ice at high speeds... and after moments that were full of stabbing, slashing, slicing, sliding... he finally reached the town hall. But it was not without resistance. There was a whole army awaiting him, guarding the town hall. _'I should've known that all that stabbing and sliding wasn't that stealthy.'_ He thought as he sighed. "Alright you fools, entertain me." Arthas exclaimed as he motioned for the army to attack him. The orcs did without hesitation, and the Lich King attacked without mercy. He slashed at the nearest orc, with a trail of runic frost magic following his blade, causing the blade to have extra cleaving damage. Every slash killed five orcs, but it was far from over. The orcs just kept on coming. Along with trolls, they proved to be... not a challenge, but more like a nuisance to Arthas.

* * *

_Inside the Town Hall..._

"I don't think they'll be able to kill Arthas."

"You think?"

"He's The Lich King after all."

"I'll go down there then, join the fight. He will meet my blade, and we'll see who's more skilled in the art of swordsmanship."

* * *

_Back at the fight against the one man army..._

"This is tiresome!" Arthas exclaimed as he opened his palm, aimed it at the incoming orcs and trolls, and a flurry of ice spikes flew at them, effectively shredding their armor and killing them. Then he slammed his fist on the ground, and a frost wave blasted everything around him in a ten meter radius. Orcs and trolls flew about as Arthas continued to annihilate the army who thought they could match up against the Lich King. One of the orcs tried to hack his head off, but he parried the attack, then simply stabbed the orc using his left hand with an ice spear. But he was not yet finished, he grabbed the orc, threw it at a bunch of other orcs, and after a second, it caused another ice blast, courtesy of the special ice spear. Then, he blasted the nearest orcs away, giving him enough time to look at the situation. The army already thinned out. No more than a hundred orcs and trolls combined.

"So you are the Lich King!?" A voice suddenly exclaimed. Arthas and the army of orcs and trolls stopped in their tracks immediately.

"Yeah, but I don't know you." Arthas replied casually before chopping the nearest orc's head off. He didn't even bother to look at the source of the disturbance.

"There's no point in telling you my name, all that you shall know is that I will be your end..." The voice said again.

"Oh really? Fine then, come here and fight me." Arthas threatened with an evil smile. The orcs started to spread away, creating a pathway for the source of the voice. It turns out that it was the blademaster that Anub'arak was talking about. He eyed the man up and down before finally saying, "So you are one of the generals of this city... Very well, we will decrease the number of orc generals today. Come!"

The blademaster wasted no time and charged at the Lich King, he feigned a vertical slash before making it a horizontal one all of a sudden- not that it made a difference. Arthas simply parried his attack and sent the orc packing with a runic magic imbued palm strike to the stomach.

"Stop wasting my time and submit to the Scourge!" Arthas proclaimed.

"Never..." The orc said persistently as he stood up and charged again. He started to throw kunais and shurikens at the Lich King. As expected, he easily dodged all of them.

"I see, so you are no ordinary blade master." The Lich King said. "You must be an assassin."

"Correct. And this assassin will be the one who will end your pitiful life!"

Again, he threw several ninja stars, but all were avoided. Suddenly, the orc is right in front of Arthas, and Arthas was hit with a kick to the face. Suddenly... the Lich King's face cracked.

"What!?" The orc assassin exclaimed as the Lich King suddenly turned to ice and shattered.

A loud bang sounded all of a sudden. The orc was suddenly blown several meters away, courtesy of the Lich King's ice blast. The enemy groaned as he stood up.

"I really... have no time for this." Arthas said to nobody in particular.

"Then i'll finish this quickly!" The orc said confidently as he charged at the Lich King. He feigned an overhead slash- making Arthas parry the attack. The orc smiled as he aimed to decapitate him with a horizontal slash to the neck.

_Crrk!_

_Blam!_

"Gah!"

"Seems like it's the other way around..." Arthas said as he looked down at the orc, who was bleeding profusely from his shoulder. Arthas hit him with a palm strike to the shoulder, before suddenly creating a huge ice spike that pierced his shoulder, nearly tearing the assassin's arm off.

_Ching!_

Arthas blocked a knife that nearly hit him. He looked to find the demon hunters that Anub'arak warned him about. Arthas smiled much to the surprise of the two. "Looks like we got guests. But! They are far too late!" He exclaimed as he jabbed Frostmourne through the orc's chest, causing him to cough up blood, before finally he stayed still, dead. The demon hunters started to move at astonishing speed, towards The Lich King, eager to kill him. They reappeared on Arthas' sides, their swords swinging at high speeds to his head, but of course, Arthas' great skills in fighting made him instinctively drop down on the ground, and he sweeped his foot, knocking one of them down on the ground- or so they thought. He caught him in mid-air, grabbed him by his neck, and easily threw him to the other one, knocking both of them flat on the ground. All within a span of three seconds. Arthas started to gather runic frost magic to his hand, before he froze both demon hunters inside out. Then they started to crack... and after one second both of them shattered...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

Kel'thuzad and the other remaining scourge leaders made their way to the main military camp of the orcs, all the while killing every orc they encounter and raising them back to become one of the undead. Once they reached the military camp, they had a whole army of ghouls behind them. At the site of the undead army, the orcs panicked, they started to use their artillery, but every explosive cannonballs were blocked or destroyed in mid-air, courtesy of Kel'thuzad's impressive frost magic mastery.

"Taste this!" The arch-lich exclaimed as he formed two massive frost magic bombs. He launched them to the towers that protected the base camp, freezing every artillery cannons the orcs used, disabling them. "Charge! For the Lich King!"

"For ze Lich King!"

_'They're really german huh...'_ Rivendare thought to himself as he led the undead army to the orc base, beside him is Kel'thuzad, and next to Kel'thuzad is Anub'arak. They quickly overwhelmed the orc encampment, with little casualties. The ghouls started to pile the orc corpses, and after they were done, Kel'thuzad started to conjure his necromantic magic to raise the orcs from the dead.

_'Kel'thuzad, how are things on your end?' _Arthas said telepathically.

_'It's well my King, we have overwhelmed the military base. And killed every single orc we have encountered. Soon we will have an army sufficient enough to launch attacks. However, it might take a long time to achieve such numbers.' _Kel'thuzad replied.

_'Why is that?' _The Lich King asked curiously.

_'Well, even with my mastery in necromancy, I would have to rest every once in a while since raising them from the dead consumes a lot of mana... If only we still have necromancers to assist me in raising them from the dead, this would become easier.' _Kel'thuzad said with a hint of disappointment in his tone.

_'I can go back to Azeroth to snatch up some necromancers. I believe some are in hiding after they got the information that the Scourge has fallen. They must have thought that we had been completely wiped out. And since we're in Outland, it would be really hard to contact them, and without the Helm of Domination, it would be even harder.' _Arthas explained.

_'It would be really dangerous my King! I would go with you and-'_

_'Kel'thuzad, don't you have confidence in my powers?'_

_'Of course I do, I just-'_

_'Then I will leave immediately. The sooner the better. Can I leave you in charge of taking over the entire city?' _Arthas asked.

_'Of course my king.' _Kel'thuzad replied hesitantly.

_'Very well then... I have already killed the generals, so you don't have to worry about them.'_ The Lich King said. _'I'll see you soon.'_

_'Be careful out there my king.'_ Kel'thuzad said. The line went silent, and the lich was left alone with his thoughts.

* * *

**_A few hours later..._**

It has been a while since the Lich King left the city to go back to Azeroth, but as he made his way to the Dark Portal, he saw figures from a distance. _'That's unusual, those look like humans.'_ He thought to himself. As he hid behind a rock, he took a closer look at the figures. They were none other than...

_'N'zoth!?'_

* * *

**A/N:**

**Alright! There's chapter 11 for you guys! Cliffhanger! Hahaha. And here is the announcement!  
**

**I got a beta reader! So, expect little to no errors at all. Her name is Julia...**

**"Hi!" Julia says cheerfully as she waved her hand...**

**Hahaha, anyways... Please follow the story, favorite it (If it deserves it), leave a review please!  
**

**Merci d'avoir lu, au revoir mon'ami.**


	12. Full Force

**A/N:**

**Here's the next chapter. And shoutout to coincidenceless for leaving all those tips in the reviews. And for giving this story a chance. I'm a great fan of his/her, and it was such an honor to know that you read my story and even left reviews. Ya'll may visit his/her profile and read Coup de what and Full Circle. It's one of the best stories around. Anyways, here's the chapter. Hahaha.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Full Force**

When he sighted the humanoid form of N'zoth, he immediately teleported back to his now headquarters. When he came back, he was welcomed by his surprised lieutenants.

"My King, I thought you came back to Azeroth?" Kel'thuzad asked, surprised.

"Well, I saw N'zoth and two others several miles away from here." Arthas explained. "We should prepare. Fortify the defenses, fix all the damages, reanimate the dead..." He barked.

"But my King, are you sure that they are here for us?" The arch lich inquired.

"No i'm not. But it's better safe than sorry." The Lich King replied. "So, where are we on the reanimation?"

"Well, we are yet to reach a third of the corpses. With the lack of necromancers, it's going really slowly, given that it is only you and me my king, who can reanimate them effectively." Kel'thuzad explained.

"Very well, after we're done, help me with something." The Lich King concluded.

They walked towards the corpses, and started the process. After doing it without rest for four hours, Kel'thuzad had almost reached his limits. Arthas seemed to take notice of this though.

"You can rest, I will keep this up for two more hours. Then, even though we're not finished with this yet, it's better we start the research immediately." The Lich King told his right hand, who looked at him with a curious expression.

"Research?" The Lich asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, i'll explain later." He simply said.

After two more hours, the Lich King finally felt a little tired and decided to rest up. _'The sooner we can start this research... the better.'_ He thought to himself. As he walked towards the former town hall, which is now converted to some sort of citadel, he noticed that there were ghouls and zombies here and there just patrolling around. He also noticed that the others are working, converting buildings to more... sinister kinds. One is being converted to a crypt, another a slaughterhouse, and the one that caught Arthas' sight is the one that is being made to become a laboratory. He promptly ordered the ghouls working at the lab to quicken the construction of the lab, to which the ghouls did quicken their actions. The Lich King used his telepathy and ordered some more ghouls to help in the contruction of the lab so that it can be done in no time. He was too busy with communicating with the undead that he didn't even notice that he is already by the main doors of the citadel. He conjured magic, causing the door to open. He went inside to look around at the place. It does not even compare to the Icecrown Citadel, but he decided that it will suffice as of now. Also, something that Outland itself lacks that frustrates Arthas is the lack of coldness. _'It is nothing but a barren wasteland that burns itself.'_ He thought to himself as he climbed up the stairs. He checked the floors out, and when he was satisfied, walked outside of the Citadel once again.

* * *

_Few hours later..._

_'Finally. They work really quick huh.'_ Arthas thought excitedly. The ghouls just finished constructing the lab, and he quickly went inside...

It was empty, except for tables, stools and drawers and a few containers, flasks etc. Just as expected. It was just newly constructed, so there's no way that there would already be materials placed conveniently inside.

_'Kel'thuzad, come to the lab at once.' _Arthas ordered as he looked around the lab. A few moments later, the door opened and the arch lich walked- or rather, floated inside.

"My King." The said lich greeted. "You called?"

"Yes I did. Can I ask you something?" The Lich King asked.

"Anything my king." The lich replied without hesitation.

"Do you happen to have blood samples of all of our lieutenants?" He inquired.

"Unfortunately, I don't. Of what might you need them for my king?" He answered politely.

"Hmm... well, can you collect them for me?" Arthas asked.

"Of course." The lich affirmed.

"Very well, you may leave now. Put them on the drawers once you have gathered the samples." He concluded. The Lich nodded and politely excused himself. He slumped on his seat when the lich left and sighed. "For some reason... I feel sorry for him." He said to himself. "He's bound to the Lich King no matter what, it makes me wonder if he is just forcing himself to do as his "king" says. Anub'arak still has remnants of his old self in him, and sometimes, when I look into his mind, I can hear it saying how he shouldn't obey anything I order him to do..." He rambled. "I think I might just go insane if I keep talking to myself like this." He said as he chuckled. He straightened himself up and stood up from his seat. He walked out of the lab and thought about what he can do to pass time. The only thing that popped up to his mind was training. He sighed and looked for a place to train. He walked around the city and found a training ground, complete with bows and arrows, targets, and dummies. He walked in the middle of the ground, summoned runic frost magic to his palm. He created a large ball of ice, that contains frost spikes/shrapnel, ready to blow in all directions and just tear everything apart. He threw the ball up in the sky, closed his eyes...

_Bang!_

The former paladin opened his eyes, created frost blades that completely engulfed his hands, then with excellent accuracy and deadly precision, he cut the frost spikes and shrapnel in halves, after a few moments, not even one scratched or even touched him. By the time he was done, there was water beneath his feet, the intense heat of Draenor quickly melting the ice. He shrugged, and then conjured more runic frost magic to his hands, creating a weird frost ball that danced around his hands. He threw it high in the sky, and the sound of magic being released is heard. Several hundreds of ice spikes were falling at high velocity towards the Lich King. He focused, summoned tremendous amounts of runic frost magic on his hands, and at great speed, he created ice spikes one after another, threw them at the ones falling down at him, every hit making a clanging sound, throwing the spikes off trajectory.  
Same result, none of the spikes even scratched him or touched him. _'After I finally get the seal I want, my skill will improve even more.' _He thought.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._**

"Hold them off!" Kazi shouted on top of his lungs. His group was cornered by a ton of demons, with dreadlords and pit lords leading the way. His army was already down to less than a hundred, and they were all in bad shape. The Triumvirates got separated from them, there were three dreadlords chasing after them.

"Roar of the Fire Dragon!"

_Whoosh!_

Kaztarel quickly formed an ice shield to protect the remaining army and himself from the attack that one of the dreadlords released. The ice shield deformed, and suddenly a beam shot out of the ball that was the former shield. The dreadlord was hit squarely, freezing the demon instantly, before the ice shattered, killing the dreadlord.

_'At this rate... i'll run out of mana and we will lose the battle.'_ The archmage thought to himself as he panted. He threw more ice spikes, attacked a doom guard with a frost nova, threw more magic ice pulse bombs, all of these didn't help that much to his condition, he was rapidly draining mana. As he cast another frost nova, his vision started to blacken. But with adrenaline coursing through his body, he rapidly attacked the demons, killing several, before they got completely overwhelmed by the demons. Kazi being the last to fall. He suffered a grievous wound to the chest, and more wounds decorating his whole body... simply put- he is a bloody mess.

With this road to Nordrassil cleared, the demons can now advance without much resistance towards the World Tree.

* * *

_**Somewhere else...**_

An owl landed on a night elf's hand, and the woman seems to be communicating with the owl. Her eyes widened after a few moments, and shooed the owl away to scout the surrounding area. The night elf walked towards where the Arch Druid, Malfurion stood observing the battle below.

"My love..." Tyrande said.

"Yes?" The druid asked, turning towards the beautiful elf. "You seem troubled. I suppose you coming here is to tell me about it?"

"Correct. One of my scouts just came back, Kaztarel and his army has fallen, the demons now roam freely in that location." The priestess explained.

"What!?" Malfurion exclaimed in surprise. "It seems that the Legion is more powerful than ever."

"Not only that... there were faceless ones reported to be mixed in with the demons." She added.

"That is not much of a surprise though... Given that N'zoth has joined forces with the Burning Legion, I wouldn't be surprised if he deployed his whole army of faceless ones on the battlefield along with the demons of the Legion." Shan'do said, frustrated.

"Let's not lose hope..." Tyrande said reassuringly. "We'll figure something out eventually."

* * *

_**And again... somewhere else...**_

"Lord Kil'Jaeden, one of the roads that leads straight to Nordrassil has been cleared, the one led by the fire dragonslayers." An eredar reported.

**"Hahaha... very well. Tell them not to rush it, we shall attack the World Tree all at once, and not one by one. Tell them to help the other demons in pushing through their defenses." **The booming voice of the demon lord told the lesser eredar.

"Yes my lord." The ereder said as he bowed respectfully and left.

The great eredar started to communicate telephatically to the old god, N'zoth. **_"Why have you failed to kill Arthas!? Have you grown so weak over the centuries!?" _**The great eredar demanded.

**_"Watch your tone with me demon..." _**The old god threatened. _**"I was too... carried away with playing with those ghouls. He won't escape next time though. He's currently on Outland... correct?"**_

_**"Yes. The illusion worked perfectly, I saw him go back to his now headquarters... which is just an orc base converted to an undead one. Now that we know exactly where he is... I will personally take care of him after we take care of the business here on Azeroth." **_Kil'Jaeden said as he laughed maliciously.

_**"It's not like you didn't fail to kill him too..." **_The old god suddenly pointed out.

_**"I was taken by surprise with Kazzak being with them." **_Kil'Jaeden explained. _**"But... how they managed to bring demons back to life and not only back to life... but convert them to undead is really intriguing." **_The demon pondered.

_**"It seems that the undead's magic improved." **_Another voice answered. **_"If they improved that much... I don't even know what other surprises they can give us."_**

**_"I was wondering when you will join us Yogg-Saron. We shall take care of this business here... after all, our victory is already assured. Let us bring down our full force upon Azeroth!" _**Kil'Jaeden roared through the link.

**_"I was waiting for you to say that. We shall release the first faceless-demon hybrid." _**The Lucid Dream said wickedly.

* * *

_**A few hours later...**_

"Shan'do! Shan'do!" A night elf called frantically.

"Calm down." The arch-druid told the elf.

The night elf completely ignored Malfurion. "There are massive numbers of demons and faceless ones are advancing!"

"What!?" Malfurion exclaimed in surprise.

"I was lucky to escape and inform you Arch-druid! Another one of the lanes towards here has fallen! Everyone was slaughtered." The night elf explained.

"Who else managed to escape?" Malfurion asked with worry.

"I didn't see Bolvar, Jaina, or Varian... at least... I didn't see their corpses. But... I did see Svilen fall last against three pit lords." The elf said with a scared expression.

"Any news on Gildarts and Mystogan's lane?" The arch-druid inquired.

"Nothing Shan'do."

"Very well, get yourself some medical attention, i'll investigate myself." Malfurion said as he walked away. Suddenly, he was cut off by another messenger.

"Shan'do!" The messenger called.

"Elune-adore." Shan'do greeted. "I assume you have something to report?"

"Yes Shan'do. My group which was led by Gildarts and Mystogan, abandoned the first checkpoint, and we are now waiting from the second checkpoint. We were told by a man to retreat. Gildarts and Mystogan fought a demon, which was far too powerful, but just as we were about to lose the fight, a man arrived and fought the demon." The night elf explained.

"And I assume that man was the one who told you to retreat..." Malfurion said thoughtfully. _'I sensed great powers fighting before... One reeks with malicious intent, the other blooms with peace and righteousness. But a while ago, I sensed the latter's power fade away, and then shortly later, the former also faded away. It could be assumed the fight ended in a draw...' _The arch-druid thought to himself. "Alright, tell them to defend their current checkpoint, don't let it fall, we have already lost two. Bolster our defenses!" He ordered. The night elf bowed and left.

Then, what looks like a huge man who was severely injured. approached him.

"Great Arch-druid, greetings." The man greeted.

"You look like you might need some help, come." The Lord of the Night elves told him as he ushered him to a hut. "Let me treat your wounds." He offered. The man let him do so. Silence surrounded them before Malfurion broke it. "I never quite caught your name."

"I am Rexxar, the last son of the Mok'Nathal."

"The Mok'Nathal... I have heard about your clan. Half-ogre and half-orc. I heard the tales about how ferocious the Mok'Nathal are in battle. Which led me to wonder, how did you get this wounds?" Malfurion asked curiously.

"I fought five dreadlords, all of which I took down. But they managed to inflict a few wounds. Most of these came from that creature. And I also came back with a report ." Rexxar explained. The other man raised his eyebrow curiously. "Thrall and the others are currently in an almost one sided battle against a demon... It even looks like a mix of a faceless one and a pit lord." He continued. "I would like to return to battle as soon as possible."

"Very well, i'll come with you personally." Malfurion told the man. He intensified his magic to heal the Mok'Nathal faster. And after at least ten or twenty minutes, Rexxar was as good as new. "Lead the way, Rexxar." The beastmaster nodded.

* * *

**_An hour later..._**

"Don't let it get past this checkpoint!" Thrall barked. They were struggling for at least two hours against the creature. A half pit lord half faceless demon. The demon wielded the signature two-bladed swords of an annihilan. But... it wielded two. It's arms replaced by tentacles, and more sprouting on it's back. And a common drawback of an annihilan is it's lack of magical capabilities, but since faceless ones were known to have vast magical capabilities...

_Woosh!_

An abyssal beam almost hit the orc warchief, missing by a few inches. The Earth Warder retaliated with a thick bolt of lightning, causing the beast to growl in pain and irritation. Suddenly, roots started to constrict the beast, rendering the demon immobile.

"Now!" The voice of Rexxar suddenly boomed.

With renewed determination, the champions struck down at the monstrosity, cutting tentacle by tentacle, before the finishing blow was delivered by none other than Rexxar. The beast roared it's final curse, it suddenly turned into some sort of a thick stem, tentacles suddenly came out of the stem, and attacked the surprised champions. Cairne quickly made a shockwave, stunning the tentacles enough to let them escape their grasp. The plan proved to be successful, and the slimy appendages were quickly cut in halves, but to their surprise, they quickly grew back. They kept this up for a few minutes, before Thrall noticed something, just at the main stem of the tentacles, something was glowing inside.

"Aim at that glow inside!" Thrall shouted as he hit the glow with lightning.

"Go, I got these tentacles!" Rexxar shouted back as he hacked away another tentacle. The others nodded and hit the glowing part of the stem with everything they got. Once the inside was exposed, there... is what looks like a heart, glowing. They hit the heart, and finally, it stopped glowing, and the tentacles went limp. They stopped for a moment to catch their breaths.

"What was that?" Thrall asked.

"It definitely looks like a hybrid of sorts." The Arch Druid answered.

"A faceless and a pit lord... Dat sure is a problem mon." Rokhan stated.

"How's your situation here Warchief?" Malfurion asked.

"Now with that thing gone, we gonna do fine." The Warchief answered.

"That is good to hear. I'll go see if some of the other defensive outposts need assistance. Ande'thoras'ethil Warchief." He said as he transformed into a crow and flew away. Thrall watched the druid until he disappeared.

"Back to your positions!" Thrall barked.

* * *

_**Somewhere else...**_

An eredar walked inside a massive chamber, and kneeled.

"Hail Lord Kil'Jaeden." The eredar greeted. "A report."

_**"Hmm... Go on." **_

"The faceless-demon Hybrid performed exceptionally well. It managed to hold down the champions for good two hours, before the Arch-Druid, Malfurion, arrived and helped them gain the upper hand. It fell in the hands of the champions." The Warlock reported.

_**"**_**Very well, you may leave."**

The warlock stood up, bowed respectfully, and left the chambers.

_**"Yogg-Saron, the Hybrid performed well... Are we ready?" **_Kil'Jaeden asked with malicious intent.

_**"Yes, The Hybrids are all just waiting to be released." **_A terrifying voice on the other end answered. If it had been any other lesser beings hearing the voice of an Old God, he/she would go mad in a matter of time.

**"_Hmm... we shall release them soon. But let's not get so hasty." _**The Great Eredar told the Old God.

**"My Lord, when shall the attack commence?" **Another voice sounded in the room.

**"Azgalor? I didn't even notice you there." **The Demonlord stated. **"The attack shall commence soon."**

**"Great, I can't wait to test out my new powers..." **Azgalor said as he came out of the shadows. His appearance changed drastically, but unlike the first hybrid, only his left arm was replaced with tentacles. But he also has the tentacles that sprout on his back and sides, but the difference is that the tentacles have maws. Clearly something made by an Old God. **"Their defenses wouldn't stand a chance against the might of The Azgalor!"**

**"I expect that fully Azgalor... don't disappoint me." **Kil'Jaeden stated.

* * *

**_Later... On Outland..._**

"My King, the blood samples are ready..." Kel'thuzad said as he approached the Lich King.

"Great. Let's go back to the lab." Arthas said. They went towards the lab, arriving after a few minutes. Once they went inside, they closed the door behind them and started working.

"The samples are in the drawers my King." Kel'thuzad told Arthas.

"Right on point huh." Arthas commented. He opened the drawers and found the samples, labeled accordingly. Kel'thuzad's, Baron's, Anub'arak's. The only one missing is... his own blood. He pulled Frostmourne out of it's sheath, removed his gauntlets, he readied a vial, then just cut his wrist. Letting the blood fill the container. Once it was almost full, he closed it, kept in along with the other vials, and closed the drawer shut.

"Alright, let's get all the ingredients we need. Namely, The Essence of Undeath, Primal Shadow..." Arthas started to list everything needed for the "seal" they were going to make.

"What exactly are we going to make my King?" The Arch-Lich asked excitedly.

"Just something... to enhance every undead's ability on the battlefield..." Arthas replied mysteriously. "Although my guess is that we will have to manually put the seal on them." He added with a sigh.

"But that won't matter that much once all the undead have the seals on them." Kel'thuzad stated.

"Agreed. And if I were to estimate a ghoul's power and compare it to another... It's strength would rival even an ogre. Imagine what an abomination would be able to do!" The Lich King affirmed excitedly.

"Now... all we need is to formulate the enchantment seal, and everything will be set." Kel'thuzad concluded.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Alright! There's chapter 12 for you guys.**

**I wonder what power they will gain with the seal they are about to make...**

**And what the hell was that? A Hybrid?**

**Things are heating up. What happened to the Triumvirates though?**

**And... what do you guys think? Is Arthas regaining his sanity?**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter. Leave a review, follow the story or favorite it if it deserves it.**

**Au revoir, merci d'avoir lu.**


	13. The Vision and the Decision

**A/N:**

**Alright, here's chapter thirteen. A double chapter update for ya'll!**

* * *

**Chapter 13: The Vision and the Decision**

**_Arthas' POV_**

_The sound of drums..._

_The sound of a desperate war cry..._

_The yells of victory..._

_The last roars..._

_The sound of a body falling lifelessly with a thud on the ground..._

**_"Fallen Prince of Lordaeron! Hear my call!"_**A voice that sounded eerily familiar said.**  
**

_For some reason, I saw... and my vision all but foggy... the Legion, rushing to the World Tree, Kil'Jaeden himself and another demon leading them in a final attack... The Aspects themselves are gathered around the World Tree, attacking every single demon that got too close..._

_Then, a flash was all I saw. Bright light that blinded me. A few moments later, another vision showed up._

_Six massive and powerful figures fought the Burning Legion._

_Another flash..._

_All I saw was chaos and destruction. Everything was burned, the land looked like there's nothing that could grow. And on every crack on the desolate planet, there was just magma and smoke seeping out. The elementals raged around the lands, driven mad by the Old Gods, further crippling the already devastated planet. And then suddenly another flash occured..._

_And then I saw Azeroth from afar... it was all red, it's natural waters dried out. And for some reason. I knew that even though this did not look a bit like Azeroth, it was the same planet were I grew up. And because of all the chaos that took place and are taking place... it was given the name... The Scorched Earth._

**_"Hear me! For there is nothing the champions could do to save Azeroth!" _**_The voice said again._**_ "The Burning Shadow wasn't the one who caused what you just saw! Something else did! Someone bigger!"_**

**"Who are you!? Show yourself at once! Why am I seeing this!?" **I yelled angrily.

_**"For you are the only one... who will be able to save the inhabitants of Azeroth, from the Wrath of the Titans." **_The voice said mysteriously.

* * *

_**(Third Person)**_

Arthas woke up with a jolt, for some reason... he managed to sleep on his chair while researching on the seal.

"What on Azeroth was that just now?" He thought aloud.

_"A vision." _The same voice said. Surprised, Arthas turned to look at the source of the voice.

"You!?" Arthas exclaimed, surprised. It was none other than... The Last Prophet, Medivh. He suddenly drew his sword, and held it defensively.

_"Now, now, no need for any hostility." _The Prophet said calmly.

"Why are you here?" The Lich King asked with a glare. He put his sword down, but he did not sheath it.

_"As you may remember, you had a dream... correct? It was not a dream, Fallen Prince, but a vision. You must go back to Azeroth as soon as you can, for there is nothing that will remain in it in twelve days." _Medivh answered.

"Why would I go back to that place!?" He demanded.

_"Because that's the only chance... for you to stop The Legion." _The other man replies calmly, again. Despite the fact that The Lich King is already yelling at him.

"The Legion?" He asked with a laugh. "I don't want to stop the Legion from destroying Azeroth. For all I care, that place is already damned."

_"Still you are stubborn. Listen to me, Arthas. I-"_

"You talk to me as if you know me." Arthas said threateningly. "Get out of my sight... At once."

_"Those threats ring hollow Lich King! I am already dead! All you see is my soul and the last of my magic. Listen to me, you won't be able to stop the Legion alone! But together, you will."_

"Together? Do you honestly think that those fools will be smart enough to even set the past aside and ally with my Scourge?" He retorted.

_"They did it before. What's to stop them from not doing so again?" _Medivh stated.

"Whatever. My answer is no. I have entertained you long enough. Now, Begone!" Arthas yelled. "Or do you wish to be a prisoner of my sword?"

_"Think this through Lich King, for you hold the fate of the Azerothians. I will try to visit you again for your answer." _The Prophet concluded before he disappeared completely, leaving Arthas to his own thoughts. A few moments later, a knock came from the door.

"My king?" A familiar voice called out from the door. It was Kel'thuzad.

Arthas was so busy with his own thoughts that he didn't even hear him until he realized that someone was knocking on the door, breaking his chain of thoughts. "Come in."

Kel'thuzad entered and found Arthas in a rather disturbed form.

"Is something wrong my king?" He asked worriedly.

"Well, I saw a vision. I saw a war, between the demons and the Azerothians. I saw the final battle, the Aspects were gathered around the World Tree, defending it with their lives. Then, it changed, and I saw six figures fighting the Legion, six massive figures. It changed again, showing Azeroth... a devastated Azeroth. I saw it from afar, and it was all... just burned..." Arthas explained. "Then I was visited by none other than Medivh himself, and he told me, that I should go back to Azeroth, and convince them to leave Azeroth. Saying that I am the only one who will be the only chance for the Azerothians' survival. That I am the one who holds their fate." He added. Silence followed his statement. Kel'thuzad was completely at loss of words. His hand was stroking his chin, clearly thinking about what might be their next course of action.

After a few more seconds of silence, Arthas decided to break it. "By the way, have you gathered everything we need for the seal?"

"Ah, glad that you asked my king. Yes, we have gathered all that we need. In fact, I have them right here." Kel'thuzad answered as he showed a bag. He handed the bag over, and Arthas quickly took a peek in and started to take the bag's contents out. He laid them all on the table, before he grabbed a cauldron, and something to beat the ingrediants, a ladle, a very large spoon to mix it. He started to beat the herbs, he poured a whole lot of water, put the herbs in, cast a fireball on the wood, igniting it...

...

_Two hours later..._

"Alright!" Arthas exclaimed. Kel'thuzad looked up from whatever he is doing and looked at him expectantly. "Now we wait." He stated. Kel'thuzad's expression immediately changed from excitement to disappointment and boredom. He was expecting the Lich King to say it was finished, but apparently, he had just finished putting the ingredients. And was just letting it boil and was mixing it.

_'This will be nothing in the long run.' _Kel'thuzad reminded himself. Half an hour later and it was finished.

He filled a vial with the blood-colored liquid. It made a sizzling sound when it filled the vial. He looked at the liquid and smiled in satisfaction. "Now we just have to test it. I'll call in a ghoul." He said. The lich nodded. A moment later and a ghoul barged through the lab door, nearly breaking it. "I brought in the most aggressive of the ghouls we currently have." He explained. "Now... hold still." He said as he motioned the ghoul to come closer. He poured a little of the liquid on his index finger, and started to paint on the ghoul's back. He painted a sort of ram, with various sinister patterns around it. After he was finished, the ghoul looked no different.

"My king, something seems wrong." Kel'thuzad observed.

"No. The seal has to be manually activated either by the bearer or the creator of the seal." Arthas explained. "Okay, here it goes. Mark of Undeath! Release!" He chanted. The seal glowed brightly, suddenly changing it's appearance and making it's body swell in size. The ghoul now gained horns on it's head, grew spikes on his back, changed his eyes to bloodshot, and his claws and teeth made sharper, stronger and longer. It's overall height multiplied by two. It suddenly let out a mighty roar, making both Arthas and Kel'thuzad smile.

"Quite impressive." The Lich commented.

"Let's test his power." The Lich King said.

They went to the training grounds and made three ice targets. Huge ones. "Destroy these targets." He ordered. The ghoul did as he was told and smashed the first target, grabbed the second and threw it to the third, destroying both. Arthas grinned. "Alright, we'll do the same for all the ghouls. It's a troublesome task, but we will pull it off." He said. Then he looked at the humongous undead creature. "As for you. I can't keep you like that, so... Mark of Undeath! Seal!" He yelled. The seal glowed again, and the ghoul reverted back to its original form. They went back to the lab, called the other generals except for Anub'arak, and started to paint the enchantment seals.

_Ten hours later..._

"Alright, let's rest up a bit." Arthas declared. His generals sighed in relief. They have been putting the seals on the undead minions for the whole day, and after a while it got old, and they felt exhausted from just painting and sitting the whole day.

"If only we had those necromancers..." Kel'thuzad said with another sigh.

"Agreed. This wouldn't be such a chore if we had those." Baron replied.

"I'll fetch the necromancers." Arthas told the two. Who traded surprised looks. "You're in charge." He said as he pointed at the arch lich. He walked out of the laboratory.

"My King!" The lich called as the fallen prince opened the door. He paused and looked at the lich. "Be careful out there my king." He said. Arthas simply nodded and walked out. As he left, the lich let out a sigh. _'For some reason... I think he just uses the necromancers as an excuse to go back to Azeroth...'_

* * *

**_Somewhere in Outland..._**

Arthas has been walking through the blasted lands for a few hours now, and he can't help but feel like something was... off. Then a figure materialized in front of him.

_"So you are going back to Azeroth..." _The figure said. It was Medivh.

"Finally you showed up." He told the prophet. "I have a question for you." He told him. He started walking to the direction where the Dark Portal is.

_"What might it be?"_ The Last Guardian asked curiously. He walked along the Lich King, who appeared to be in deep thought.

"Nevermind." He said after a moment of thinking.

_"Well I have one for you." _Medivh said. Arthas just shrugged. _"Why are you going back to Azeroth?"_

"To get the necromancers." He answered. "And to see the situation."

_"Situation?"_

"Correct, i'll scope the place out, see what I can do."

_"There's nothing you can do. The titans themselves, will intervene. And you know what that means right?" _The Prophet told him.

"I do. And I will prevent them from coming by destroying the Legion myself." Arthas concluded with an intense glare.

_"Are you insane!? You won't be able to stop them by yourself! Sargeras himself is-"_

He interrupted him all of a sudden. "I lost my sanity a long time ago. And I got nothing to lose."

_"Don't be foolish!" _Medivh yelled.

"I'm not." He said casually.

_"Listen to me. I-"_

"Stop." Arthas interrupted. "I will do things my way. You think you know what my fate is? I'll prove you wrong."

_"Then i've wasted my time here."_ The Prophet said with disappointment.

"You didn't." The man said out of the blue. "I'll make sure that Azeroth is safe. Don't worry about me." He added.

_"What made you decide that?" _He asked curiously.

"I don't honestly. I had a feeling of emptiness for some reason." The man replied, who looked deep in thought. Frostmourne hummed. "And that Frostmourne hungers..."

* * *

_**A day later...**_

"Why didn't I think of teleporting?" Arthas thought aloud as he walked out of the portal he just made. He's now right in front of the Dark Portal.

_"Be careful out there Arthas, Kil'jaeden will NOT spare you this time."_ Medivh warned.

"I think it's the other way around." Arthas stated casually. "Besides, I have a surprise for him." He added. He removed his armor, and showed him some sort of ram, and has patterns around it.

_"What's that?"_

"Just something to enhance my powers. By the way, another reason why I wanted to come back. I need the blood of Kil'jaeden to further enhance this enchantment seal." He explained. Medivh simply nodded. "See you around ghost." He said as he walked to the portal.

He was greeted by the demons guarding the portal, who already raised their weapons and are about to attack him.

"Gimme a break." He sighed. He drew his iconic sword, Frostmourne. And killed all of the nearest demons in a mighty cleave, imbued with runic frost magic. He concentrated more magic on his foot, and just launched himself up in the sky. He made artificial runic magic wings and flew away towards the mountains. Towers shot arrows and fireballs in a futile attempt to take him down, which are all avoided.

* * *

_**Somewhere else...**_

"Lord Kil'jaeden! The Lich King has returned!" An eredar informed.

**"Hmm... You may leave now."** Kil'jaeden told the eredar. The lesser demon bowed and left.

**"_This is quite a surprise." _**A dark voice told the powerful demonlord.

**"_I'll take care of him. I was not finished with him."_** Another voice said.

**"You do that N'zoth. We will keep on working on these new hybrids." **Kil'jaeden replied to the voices.

* * *

**_Back with Arthas..._**

The Lich King landed on a mountain. Looking around, he found that no demon followed him. "Strange." He thought to himself. "There are only a few who tried to attack me. Where are all the other demons...?"

**"They are currently busy destroying the World Tree." **A voice said suddenly. A creature showed up, and was none other than N'zoth.

"Have you come here to experience the feeling of losing again Old God?" Arthas taunted. It seemed effective as the creature stabbed its massive sword on the ground, cracking it.

**"Oh it will be the other way around this time, Lich King." **N'zoth replied. The creature charged at Arthas, who flew out of the way.

"I really have no time for this." The Lich King said with an irritated tone. He came back down and punched the Old God with his left hand, imbued with runic magic, making it stagger. Then he stabbed him through the chest, twisted the blade, and kicked him away. A huge fireball suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit Arthas, knocking him several feet away.

**"It's time Lich King." **Another familiar voice told him.

"Show yourself then, let's fight." Arthas said with excitement. The demon lord appeared out of nowhere and started to attack the Lich King with a combination of shadow, chaos, and fire magic.

**"Legion Lightning!" **Kil'jaeden yelled. A black and white lightning bolt hit Arthas, knocking him towards a huge rock. He didn't stop there, he threw several more lightning bolts on him. **"Flame Dart Explosion Barrage!" **He yelled. The whole rock was obliterated. After the dust finally cleared, Arthas' corpse or even a piece of his armor was nowhere to be found, much to the surprise of the massive eredar. The sound of wings flapping was heard.

_Shhhkt!_

Arthas slashed Kil'jaeden from shoulder to elbow, creating a huge wound, before suddenly disappearing again.

**"Damn you insect!" **The Deceiver roared in anger. **"Show yourself!"**

"Very well demon. I want you to witness this yourself." Arthas said mysteriously as he walked out of hiding. "This is it demon. This is where you will die..."

**"Mark of Undeath: The Twilight King! RELEASE!" **The Lich King yelled powerfully.

* * *

**A/N:**

**AND! A cliffhanger! Oh man that's some intense shit. That's a pretty long ass title for a small ass chapter. Two chapters!  
**

**Why exactly did Arthas go back?**

**And... is he finally getting his sanity back?**

**And what the hell is the Mark of Undeath on Arthas?**

**Stay tuned.**

**Merci d'avoir lu. Au revoir mon'ami.**


	14. Chapter 14: The Pantheon's Decision

**A/N:**

**Here's the next chapter. Thanks for coincidenceless again for leaving a review and to a random guest who also did the same. And by the way, it may be confusing how Sargeras spoke in Japanese in chapter... I don't even know. But anyways... it was because I don't know how demonic runes look like and if there are even, I don't know what they mean. So therefore, I used Japanese as a substitute. A poor choice, but I don't think any other languages would suffice.**

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Pantheon's Decision**

**"Mark of Undeath: The Twilight King!" **Arthas yelled. The seal beneath his armor started to glow very brightly. Kil'Jaeden and N'zoth could only look at him in shock as his body was completely engulfed in darkness. After a few tense moments, the darkness disappeared, and an even more menacing Arthas stood before the demon lord. The Lich King now has dragon-like wings on his back, his shoulder plates having an appearance of large claws, his gauntlets now has claws, and his body radiated an aura of darkness. The "Twilight King" as the Vrykul refer to him, was now smiling at the Legionlord, murderous intent visible in his eyes. **"Now, with your blood as an additional enchantment, i'll use this blood of yours and this immense power to decimate the Legion and wipe out your existence, oh great demon."** He mocked.

**"Do you honestly think you are a match for the Legion? And for me?" **The demon laughed.

**"Oh I am more than one." **He said. He wasted no time and flew at him with immense speed. The Deceiver, caught by surprise, received a slash from Frostmourne across the face. But it did not end there, due to the eredar's enormous size, it made him huge target, making it much easier for The Lich King to land strikes at his opponent. Growling, Kil'Jaeden tried to hit Arthas, swinging his arms around wildly, and futilely.

**"Gah! Die you miserable insect!" **Kil'Jaeden roared. He covered himself with wings and released a huge amount of Shadow magic, hitting everything around him. Arthas however, appeared relatively unharmed. A large shield of ice was held in his left arm, which served as a protection from the attack.

N'zoth, started to join the battle, turning himself into Night Terror and flying towards Arthas. The Old God swung his sword at Arthas, but it was parried, and he was sent flying back down on the ground, a massive ice boulder on top of him. The Lich King directed his attention back at the massive demon, who has prepared intense fire magic on his right hand. With a roar, he punched Arthas out of the air, making a huge explosion as it made contact. He fell down, and hit the ground, creating a massive crater. Deciding not to stop there, Kil'Jaeden gathered more and more fire magic on his hand. Arthas stood up, before noticing that the eredar was gathering more magic on his hand. He focused all his runic magic on Frostmourne, and after five seconds, the sword started to shake, and howled in anger.

**"Pyrogeddon!" **Kil'Jaeden roared, he punched the ground in front of him, massive explosions erupted, going towards Arthas.

Not about to be taken down, Arthas roared in determination. **"Cryogeddon!"** He stabbed Frostmourne on the ground, making massive runic ice magic explosions.

The two powerful spells collided, a very loud explosion was heard all across the continent. An earthquake was experienced all across the Eastern Kingdoms, and tremors were felt throughout Azeroth...

* * *

_**Somewhere else...**_

A messanger approached Malfurion. Greeting him, he informed the arch druid of the news he brought. "Shan'do, the Aspects have finished preparing a barrier around the World Tree. They are going to-" As if on a cue, the beating of wings were heard, and Alexstrasza and Ysera landed near both of them.

"Great Aspects." Malfurion greeted. "I heard that you made a barrier on the World Tree?"

"Correct Arch Druid." Alexstrasza affirmed. "All of the dragons are ready and will strike at our command."

"Currently, Thrall needs help on the west side my queen." Shan'do told her.

"Very well." The Dragonqueen said. She let out a might roar. A few seconds later, hundreds of dragons started to fly out, going towards the west. More flew about, going towards every checkpoint.

"We are more than grateful for your help my queen." He said. "However, this battle is far from over. The Defense of Nordrassil shall continue, and we shall rise triumphant!"

"I vowed to protect all life on Azeroth, and I shall do so until my dying breath." The Queen declared.

"Likewise." Ysera said with a nod. A tremor suddenly shook them. Malfurion looked at the Red Dragon Aspect with confusion.

"Spirits, grant me your sight. What is it that caused such tremor?" He muttered. He closed his eyes, and he saw a vision of the Eastern Kingdoms, one of the mountains was crashing down, magma was flowing alongside the rocks that crashed down. However, the thing that disturbed him most was that... some of the rocks were frozen. "Frost...?" Alexstrasza and Ysera looked at him, confused. "I see... the Eastern Kingdoms was the epicenter, one of the mountains was destroyed, magma was flowing, and strangely enough, some of the rocks are frozen..." He explained.

"Frozen? Could it be!?" Ysera exclaimed.

"It might be. Though we now know that the Scourge was taken down, there was no evidence that The Lich King came down with it. Not to mention his most trusted lieutenants." Malfurion told her. "Though what might he be doing in the Eastern Kingdoms?"

"Perhaps he's going to go to Outland..." Alexstrasza thought.

"From what we have gathered, the demons' main base is at the Eastern Kingdoms, how can he possibly go to the Dark Portal?" Ysera inquired.

_"He's here to help you." _A voice told them. They looked to find Medivh, who walked towards them.

"Help us? The Lich King?" Malfurion asked disbelievingly.

_"That's correct Arch Druid, he seemed to be determined to take the Legion down." _The Prophet said.

"You seem to have been talking to him for a while, great prophet." Ysera said with a curious look. "Then perhaps you may tell us where he is right now?"

_"He is currently at the Eastern Kingdoms, he has just came back from Outland. He told me he needed the blood of the Kil'Jaeden, to further enchance the enchantment seal. And from what I have seen, he managed to collect a hefty amount of blood, and undoubtedly already used it. I saw him use his so called "seal" and his appearance changed, he had wings and a few other changes on his armor. The last thing I saw before I left the Eastern Kingdoms to inform you of this was the two of them releasing powerful spells against each other. It is pretty much flame against ice." _He explained.

"Did you just say he came back from Outland? And what is this seal supposed to be?" Malfurion asked with an even more disbelieving expression. "And did you say he has wings!?"

_"Correct, but that doesn't matter. You must focus on defending the World Tree, as long as you can. If all else fails..." _He sighed, pausing for a good three seconds before continuing. _"You can rely on him to get you out of Azeroth."_

"Flee? Just what may the reason be that we must rely on him of all beings!?" The druid demanded.

"Arch druid, please calm down." Ysera scolded.

Malfurion took a deep breath to calm himself down, before apologizing. "I'm sorry Great Aspect."

_"__It seems necessary that I answer your question." _The Prophet thought aloud. _"The only reason is that... he is the only one powerful enough to hold the demons off alone. And with his newfound power... there's no telling what he can do." _He concluded before gazing into the distance, to the direction of the Eastern Kingdoms.

* * *

**_Back at the Eastern Kingdoms..._**

Smoke and dust covered the entire Khaz'modan, or what used to be Khaz'modan. Kil'Jaeden stood strongly, eyes alert, searching. Searching for the Lich King. When the smoke and dust finally cleared, it became apparent that Arthas was nowhere to be found.

_**"**_**That coward!" **He exclaimed as he looked around in hopes of finding him, either dead or alive. A few moments later, someone landed right in front of him. It was Sargeras.

**"You fool! Do I have to take everything into my own hands!?" **The Fallen Titan said angrily. **"How hard it is to kill a mere ghoul!?"**

**"Milord, the Lich King is not a mere ghoul, he managed to stop my attack with his own spell. And it was not a simple spell, it was my Pyrogeddon..." **Kil'Jaeden explained.

**"Do you think I care!? I could kill you right here, right now for your actions!" **Sargeras threatened. Kil'Jaeden visibly flinched at the threat, fear evident in his eyes. **"But, since it is your efforts that helped me get out of the Twisting Nether, I will let this pass. But be warned, I will not tolerate another one of this... failures."**

**"Yes, Lord Sargeras." **He said as he bowed his head in apology.

**"Now, keep working on the hybrids, i'll organize our forces myself. The defenses of the World Tree are rapidly weakening, Azeroth will be ours soon."** Sargeras laughed.

* * *

_**In a place where everything started...**_

**"We have received news that The Purifier has failed in his mission to kill Sargeras." **A booming voice declared.

**"Indeed, Sargeras has grown powerful." **Another said.

**"What do you think shall we do, Highfather?" **Another asked, he held a sort of hammer that looks like it was used to craft weapons.

**"I have heard of a being that was created by the Legion. The Lich King was it's name." **The Highfather said. Everyone looked at him in confusion as to where he was going with his statement. **"I have heard how it turned against them, and how it merged with a human, to be specific, a prince. The Crown Prince of Lordaeron to be exact."**

**"Pardon me for interrupting Highfather, but how is that relevant to the question asked?" **Someone impatiently said.

**"Be patient, Golganneth." **The Highfather said. Golganneth fell silent, causing the Highfather to smile. **"Now, if I may continue. This Lich King commands the Undead Scourge, for years it was one of the major powers in Azeroth, until it's downfall recently. It was one of the first to fall when the Legion attacked the planet. However, the Lich King did not fall along with his Scourge, instead, he fled to Draenor along with some of his greatest generals. On their time there, they attacked an orc base, took it over, and converted all to undead. Not only that, he managed to concoct a special liquid, that when painted to someone into a specific figure, will enhance their powers greatly." **He explained.

**"That would prove to be useful indeed."** One of them, a woman with bronze skin stated as she nodded. **"However, the undead are nothing more than another problem that needs to be eliminated swiftly."**

**"It is useful." **The one with the platinum skin affirmed.

**"Now, the Lich King has come back to Azeroth to perhaps save it, or to conquer it, we are unsure of his course of action, but we know that he fought Kil'Jaeden, and the battle ended in a tie. He has been granted a vision by the Guardian of Tirisfal, Medivh, of how Azeroth is going to be destroyed by a great battle. I myself foresaw this, if we interfere, a great battle of course will ensue, and Azeroth's safety is not guaranteed. And with the Old Gods by the Legion's side, Azeroth will definitely be doomed if we go there and try to destroy the Legion. Now, my plan is..."** Aman'thul explained, as he took a deep breath before continuing. **"We will pay the Lich King a visit, as he is the only one powerful enough to take our blessings and use them."**

**"That is insane! Why must we rely on the undead to destroy the Legion!? Isn't there someone else?" **Eonar demanded.

**"I agree with Eonar, the undead, being granted that much power? He might turn out being like Sargeras!" **Golganneth argued.

**"Would you prefer to take on the Legion and the Old Gods? Would you prefer having thousands of innocents being killed? Would you?" **Aman'thul asked calmly. Again, Golganneth fell silent, but not without sending a glare at him first. **"Listen Golganneth, you have seen what the Old Gods are capable of. Have you not? They took one of us down."** He added. The Thunderer, looked to be deep in thought, the memory of Agrometh getting swarmed by those horrors sent shivers down his spine.

**"But still, I refuse to grant him my blessing." **Eonar declared. Aman'thul looked at her, a look of understanding.

**"I understand how much you abhor the undead, and I shall not force you to do so."** Aman'thul told her. After a moment of coaxing, her features softened and her loving gaze again fell upon him. The Highfather smiled before continuing. **"Is anyone willing to grant him their blessing? I shall not force any of you, and so do not force yourselves."**

**"One question Highfather." **The one with the hammer asked. Aman'thul nodded. **"What will happen after we grant him our blessings? Will he be forever someone lost? His life having no meaing?"**

**"Ah, glad that you asked Khaz'goroth." **Aman'thul said with a smile.

**"We shall make him the Earth Warder..."**

* * *

**A/N:**

**WHAAAAAAT!? The Titans, giving Arthas power? That's crazy!**

**Anyways, I know it's definitely crazy, but... we'll see what happens. Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated, please follow it, favorite it if it deserves it.**

**Merci d'avoir lu, au revoir mon'ami.**


	15. The Lightning Edge

**A/N:**

**Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy. And by the way, my beta reader became quite busy, so... yeah. She couldn't really beta read anymore. But that's fine. Haha.**

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Lightning Edge**

"We shall make him The Earth Warder." Aman'thul answered. A moment of silence followed his answer.

Aggramar decided to break the silence. "With all due respect Highfather, that idea is absurd!" Several others piped in, resulting in an incomprehensible mumbling.

After a few more moments, Aman'thul's booming voice silenced all of them. "Silence!" They all fell silent almost instantaneously. "Now, let us vote. Those who are in favor of granting him our blessings, raise your hands." He said. He himself raised his hand, along with Khaz'goroth.

"Though it may seem rather... stupid. I am willing to take this gamble, I think I see something good will come out of this." He stated. Aman'thul smiled at his statement. Following that, Norgannon and Golganneth both raised their hands. Eonar and Aggramar both glared at The Highfather, who simply smiled at them.

"Eonar my love, please... consider this." He said.

"He won't be receiving mine." Eonar replied. Aggramar nodded in agreement.

"Very well, I shall not force you two too bestow your blessings upon him. But, we still have some topics at hand. Like... the recent uprisings on planet Earthland..."

* * *

_**Back on Azeroth...**_

A very tired looking Arthas walked across the mountains in The Eastern Kingdoms. He had just escaped... again from Kil'jaeden. And right as he did so, he thought he saw someone land in front of the eredar.

"I... wonder... who might... that be...?" He asked to himself in between breaths. Suddenly, he slowly transformed back to his original form, and a wave of fatigue hit him. His head suddenly crackled, static sounded, before it became clear that Kel'thuzad was trying to communicate with him through their telepathic link.

_"Mi-... Is... alright?... necromancers... retrieve..."_ Arthas clutched his head in pain, before screaming back on the link to shut up for a bit. After a moment, he added more magic on the link, clearing the link up.

_"Alright... so, what was it that you were asking me?" _He asked.

_"Is everything alright my King?"_

_"Yeah, I escaped Kil'jaeden, but I managed to get his blood to further enhance the seal." _He answered proudly.

_"What was the seal's effects Milord? It seems you are very tired. Is it one of the side effects?" _The Lich asked worriedly.

_"Yeah, exhaustion after use is a major drawback. Though it's a small price to pay after it granted you such power." _He replied. _"By the way, where can I find the necromancers?"_

_"They are scattered all across Azeroth my King. But I suggest you find my Thuzadin. I believe they are currently in the ruins of Stratholme, hiding. And I believe another one of the Death Knights are with them." _Kel'thuzad answered. Arthas perked up at the mention of the death knight, he will finally be able to see where the necromancers were. He focused his magic on Stratholme, searching for the said death knight, which was none other than Aurius Rivendare. As he looked through the death knight's vision, he saw the ever burning ruins of the city, and a few necromancers, presumably the Thuzadin.

_"Alright, I found them, Aurius is with them. I'll go meet up with them." _Arthas told the lich.

_"Be careful out there my king." _Kel'thuzad said before the link went silent.

The Lich King sighed to himself, he needs to travel again. Now towards one of the cities he ravaged, but why was he concerned all of a sudden?

* * *

_**Back at Nordrassil...**_

"Warchief Thrall! Several Demonic Faceless Hybrids are heading straight this way!" A grunt told the warchief. Thrall angrily punched a demon with so much force that a sickening crack sounded and it flew several feet back at the advancing army of demons.

"Prepare the siege weapons!" He commanded. The grunt nodded and ran towards the towers. The orc came back a few minutes later.

"Warchief, it will still take them some time to prepare!" The grunt informed him.

Thrall nodded. "Until then, we hold them off." He said as he called to the elements. A moment later, several jagged rocks came out of the ground, impaling the demons unfortunate enough to be near him. He heard a cry of pain from nearby, and he looked to find one orc getting mauled by one of the Hybrids. The Orc Warchief immediately struck the demon/faceless with a lightning bolt, hitting it in the face. It didn't do much, but it was enough to allow the gravely injured orc to get away from the creature. The said creature then turned towards Thrall, who prepared himself. It charged at him and let out a terrifying roar. Water came out of nowhere and splashed at the creature, but it did not end there, Thrall followed it up with a lightning bolt. And with the water all over the creature, electricity surged throughout its body, damaging it severely. More started to charge at them, hundreds of them. "Don't falter my warriors!" He yelled. They were all low on morale, the battle was one-sided, and they're only hope was...

"Fire!"

Hundreds of giant arrows flew across the air, piercing the incoming Hybrids.

"Again! Fire!"

More arrows. For a moment, it seemed like the tides finally turned to their favor. But an earthquake shook them, and something... came out of the ground just a few hundred meters from them.

_**"Hahaha! Cower in fear! For Yogg-Saron is here! Charge my warriors! Destroy these fools who dared to claim our lands as their own. Return Azeroth as it was once before! Reclaim it in the name of the Elder Gods!" **_It commanded with a terrifying voice. Several orcs, humans and night elves who caught sight of the creature started to scream and cry. Following the Old God's command, thousands of faceless ones crawled out of the cracks it made when it came out of the ground. Thrall could only look at the creature with a horrified expression. It stood several hundred meters tall, it's body containing several maws with sharp teeth. It's tentacles whipping around violently, destroying trees and killing anyone who got too close. _**"Fall before the might of Yogg-Saron! Darkness shall reign!" **_It roared again. Another powerful earthquake shook the whole Ashenvale forest, and it finally came out of the ground. The Old God appears to resemble a cross between a mutated worm and an octopus. Countless tentacles sprout all over it's body. And at some larger tentacles have mouths at the ends of them. A few moments later, the maws on it's "head" all of a sudden started to move away from the center, and a completely black "eye" opens. At this point, almost all of the defenders are down on their knees, either crying, screaming or laughing. Thrall himself fell down on his knees, the eye directly stared at him. He dropped Doomhammer and clutched his head.

"GO AWAY! NO! SOMEONE! HELP!" The Earth Warder shouted. He started to crawl, as if running away from something.

_"Warchief Thrall! For this is all but an illusion!" _A voice told him. His shaking stopped, and he slowly opened his eyes to find all the other defenders staring into space. No Old God, nothing. Several demons however were taking advantage of this, killing every defender nearby. _"Try to hold them off. I'll break the illusion!"_ The voice said again. Sure enough, the Hybrids were quickly barreling towards them, a huge one leading them. A few moments later, several green dragon flew overhead, spew acid right in front of the Hybrids, effectively stopping them from advancing any further. Some attacked the ones who were killing the vulnerable defenders. Then a huge green dragon landed right in front of Thrall. It was none other than the green dragon aspect, Ysera.

"That layer of acid won't stop them for long Warchief, please hold them off until I release the spell that binds our warriors. The others will take care of those who got too close to our comrades." She ordered the Warchief. He nodded and ran towards the Hybrids, who were trying to find a way across the recently made corrosive lake. The biggest one, no doubt their leader, raised his hand, seemingly casting something. Several tentacles came out of the ground, covered the acid, granting them passage across.

_'No doubt I wouldn't stand a chance against them by myself.'_ Thrall thought to himself as he walked towards the demons. _'Then i'll duel their leader then take them down in one shot. I need to hold them off after all.' _He looked back towards Ysera, who was dispelling the illusion spell. He looked up at the dragons, who are now engaging the Hybrids. He stomped imposingly towards their leader, who simply laughed.

**"A mere orc? Challenging The Great Azgalor?"** Azgalor said in a condescending tone. Much to his surprise however, Thrall didn't even flinch. Not in the slightest. This angered the annihilan. **"How can you hope to defeat me alone?"** He asked with a laugh. Thrall looked at him, his eyes now glowing a bluish-white hue.

"I am not alone."

**"The elements will fight by my side! Prepare to face the wrath of Azeroth itself! Now you shall see how merciless nature can be!" **Thrall said in a powerful tone, his voice seemed to echo across the forests. He wasted no time, he summoned lightning and struck the pit lord to its shoulder, several more following.. He followed it up with a barrage of fireballs, and magma balls. Before finally ending his barrage with a boulder hurl. When the dust finally cleared, the Hybrid emerged out of the rubble, unharmed. Thrall's eyes widened in surprise, as to how one didn't receive damage from attacks that powerful.

**"Is that all?"** The Hybrid asked. **"My turn then.****" **His tentacles lashed out trying to reach the warchief, who immediately did evasive maneuvers to avoid them. He was too busy trying to get away from the tendrils that he didn't notice Azgalor got close to him. He swung his double-edged sword towards Thrall, who blocked in just in time with Doomhammer. However, the force threw him several feet away, making him fall flat on the ground. The Pit Lord laughed and charged at him, sword at the ready. But just as he was ready to disembowel the orc, he jumped away just in time to avoid it.

_'He's way stronger than I thought.'_ He brushed the dust off of his armor before directing his sights back at his opponent, who was eyeing him with a murderous intent. "Then I have no choice but to use _that._" He said to himself. The Legion Commander again moved his tentacles and tried to catch him. But just as they got five feet away from him, they got cut to bits and pieces.

**"What!?"** Azgalor exclaimed disbelievingly.

**"It's no use! The wind protects me!"** Thrall said.

**"Let's see what your precious wind can do against the Legion Lightning!" **The Supreme Annihilan shouted. He conjured magic on his palm and let out a black and white lightning bolt. A rock wall stopped it however. Annoyed, He let out bolts after bolts of shadow magic, but each were blocked.

**"Earth Rupture!" **Thrall shouted. The rock wall shield that protected him went back down on the earth. As it went down, the orc put his palm down on the ground, rupturing the earth right in front of him. It quickly headed towards the Pit Lord, as it almost reached him, he jumped out of the way, using his tentacles for extra jumping force. The earth ruptured to right where he was before, creating an especially large one and causing a huge fireball, followed by magma to come out of the earth and shoot up the sky. More followed, each time getting closer to the Pit Lord, who was quickly trying to evade each attack. After a few more moments, the attack finally ceased. Azgalor took a moment to catch his breath.

**"You missed!"** Azgalor taunted. Thrall simply smiled however. Five seconds later, a huge clouds enveloped the area, lightning strikes struck down on the earth, huge and powerful ones. Azgalor looked around in both confusion and anger. **"What is this!?"**

**"You were never the target for those fireballs in the first place. Although it may seem like you were, no one was the target. The flames and magma were but a diversion for a much bigger attack. And it also helped me prepare it. The intense heat heated up the atmosphere, causing something such as this."** Thrall explained. Lightning roared up the sky as if on a cue. **"Now, prepare for your death..."** He holstered Doomhammer on his wast and raised his hand up the sky. Lightning bolts started to strike his palm, after three lightning strikes, it became apparent that he was gathering energy on his palm. Azgalor tried to stop him, his tentacles desperately trying to grab him. But the again, they got sliced to bits and pieces after getting at least five feet away. He tried to attack him, but all his efforts ended up being futile. After ten more seconds, he put his hand down towards his right side. **"Lightning Edge!"** He shouted. He ran at the demon at the speed of lightning. His opponent tried to intercept his attack by trying to attack him with the tentacles, but sure enough, they didn't even get close enough to even touch him. Azgalor put his double-edged sword up to block his attack. The lightning struck everywhere near his hand, and left a trail of rubble behind him. As he got right in front of him. The only thing Azgalor saw was the elemental lords right behind the warchief, reflecting the fury etched on his face. And for the first time in so many years, the demon felt actual fear. He put his sword up, trying to block his attack. As it came in contact with Thrall's lightning imbued hand, it broke in half almost instantly. The demon's armor did the same.

_Shhkt!_

Thrall pierced through the demon's chest. Thrall brought his hand down again to his right side, the lightning finally disappearing from his hand. And at the same time, ten lightning bolts struck down on the barely alive Hybrid, completely killing him.

A moment later, Thrall fell down on his knees, and then face first on the ground. He collapsed from exhaustion.

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**_Back at Arthas..._**

"It's been a few hours." He said to himself as he sighed. He began to feel tremors an hour or so ago. And for some reason he knew it was not by natural causes. As he walked he felt something was coming. He looked up in the sky to find a bright light, closing in on him. Fast. His eyes widened before he jumped out of the way, but it stopped just before it hit the ground. He pulled out Frostmourne, ready to strike any moment. His eyes narrowed as the bright light almost blinded him. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a figure right inside the light, and for some reason he felt a sense of peacefulness as he gazed upon the figure.

"Greetings, Lich King." The figure said calmly. "I came here to give you something."

"Give me something? Who might you be?" Arthas asked curiously.

"My identity is not important for we are short on time. Prince Arthas, I came here to grant you power, power that shall stop the Burning Legion once and for all." He replied.

"Answer my question." The Lich King said threateningly.

With a sigh, the man answered. "Very well, if you insist. I am... Aman'thul the Highfather, the leader of the Pantheon."

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**A/N:**

**And there goes chapter fifteen! Hope you enjoyed it. My story's been getting a lot of views lately, and for that I am grateful. I just wanna say thanks to all of you for leaving a review, or simply reading my story! I hope you'll continue to support me. Hahaha. And that's all for me.**

**Merci d'avoir lu.**


	16. The Blessings

**A/N:**

**Alright! Chapter sixteen here we go! And if anyone watches Naruto, you can see that "Lightning Edge" is made by Hatake Kakashi's Raikiri, or... in english "Lightning Edge". I just made a few changes about the technique/spell.**

* * *

**Chapter 16: The Blessings**

"Aman'thul... The Highfather? The Pantheon? What?" Arthas asked, confused. He looked around nervously. "Look, we can discuss this next time. We're not safe here. And all you're doing is confusing me." He added with a little frustration in his tone.

Aman'thul sighed. "We are not even at Azeroth anymore."

Arthas' eyes widened and so he looked around. It seems they are in some sort of canyon...

"We are at Mount Olisus. A mountain in our planet, Olympra." He informed the Lich King. "And i'm afraid there is no "next time". He summoned some magic on his hand, and suddenly, something, no... someone, appeared next to Arthas. It was none other than the Earth Warder. Thrall. And he was unconscious. Arthas eyed the orc curiously.

"He seem to be beaten up." He observed. Then he looked back at the man before him. "What is your purpose here? Why did you bring Thrall here?" He demanded. Aman'thul didn't respond however. He simply bent over and held his hand over the orc's chest. His hand glowed a hue of green, and a few moments later, Thrall's eyes slowly fluttered open. He looked around, with a confused look on his face. Upon sight of Arthas, he jumped away immediately, and adapted a fighting stance.

"Lich King." He muttered angrily. Arthas simply stared at him, with the same confused look. Upon noticing the other man near Arthas, Thrall became even more confused. "What is the meaning of this!? Who are you!? How did I here!?"

"Now now, calm down Warchief. Or... shall I say, Earth Warder." The Highfather told the orc. It seemed to calm him even just a little. "Now that you are both here. It's time that I actually tell you why you both are here." He said before pausing. "Now let me answer your questions. I am a member of the Pantheon, the leader in fact. The Pantheon consists of the wisest and most powerful of the Titans."

Arthas and Thrall both looked very shocked at what they were hearing. Arthas was first to speak up. "Titans... The ones who forged the whole Great Dark Beyond. I heard about them once in one of Ner'zhul's ramblings."

"On that, you are correct. Now I shall tell you why you are here. But before that..." He looked at Arthas and continued. "Arthas, have you ever wondered why Ner'zhul chose you as his champion?" Arthas looked shocked by the question.

After a moment of silence, he finally responded. "I never did. Because I believed that he chose me because he..." Arthas trailed off.

"Then, you don't know. Well, let me explain it to you." Aman'thul told the fallen prince. "It was never because your soul went dark the moment you tried to drive the undead away from your kingdom. It was never because you slaughtered the innocent inhabitants of Stratholme. It was because... Ner'zhul foreseen this. Ner'zhul sought revenge on Kil'Jaeden, and The Burning Legion as a whole. Revenge because they made him suffer, because they turned him into the monstrosity that was The Lich King. Everything is going according to his plan. He predicted all of these. You, merging with him, then making The Undead Scourge gain tremendous power. He expected it to fall when Kil'Jaeden finally struck. He expected you to escape. He expected you... to finally have the power to kill the Demonlords. He expected you to bring down The Burning Legion. And that power, will finally be given to you. Although I myself don't want to believe that someone predicted something this far... it seems that way." Aman'thul explained, ending it with a sigh and a faint smile. "But still, even though it may seem like we are avenging his death, we are doing this for the good of all.

"Why can't you Titans just bring them down?" Arthas asked.

"We cannot. Sending an army against them on their own planet is suicide, for they are far too powerful. And even if The Pantheon can easily defeat the army here on Azeroth... it would cause the loss of all life on the planet. And we cannot let that happen." Aman'thul explained.

They stood in silence for good five seconds...

"As I have stated before, I am here to give you something. And I also have something for Thrall." He said before folding his hands behind his back. "Originally, it was only supposed to be just Arthas, but we decided... at the last minute, to to grant you both power. To give you the blessings that the Pantheon decided to bestow upon the two of you. Power that will guard Azeroth forever, power that shall bring down the Burning Legion." He said. He put his hands up, and five more appeared next to him.

"Wait, grant us power? Why me of all people?" Arthas asked confused.

Thrall nodded. "Yeah, the Lich King has a point. Why him? Why me?"

"Arthas, you are the one who can contain the power that will be bestowed upon you without it completely destroying you. And... the only one who can command darkness without it corrupting you." He paused and looked at Thrall. "And as for you. You have done deeds that no one else could've done. And you shall continue to do so." He said. He summoned magic on his hands and held them out, gesturing both Arthas and Thrall to take a close look on what is on his palms. They walked closer and found that he is indeed holding two eyes. Two white glowing eyes. "What you see is the Eye of Foresight. I shall grant you such eyes to be able to predict attacks, movements, spells, among other things. However, be warned. As this eye shall always be closed when not in use, as it uses up a lot of mana when opened." He explained. He gestured them to come a little closer. Aman'thul put his palm on Arthas' left eye, and Thrall's right eye. His hands glowed. After five seconds, they stopped glowing, and he removed his hand from their faces. They both opened their eyes at the same time.

"Whoah!" Arthas exclaimed.

"Now we shall continue." Aman'thul declared. He put his palm on the ground, and suddenly, a symbol lit up under Arthas and Thrall's feet. The symbol of the titans, which consists of a hammer in the middle, with a shield behind it, with symbols all decorating both weapons.

"I am Erebu'roth. The Titan of Darkness." The titan introduced himself in a deep voice.. "I am the one responsible for the control of darkness, and Death itself. The one who prevents it from corrupting the Great Dark Beyond. But even with my power, I still can't control all of it myself..." He said with a hint of disappointment. "And so, I am granting you the power over darkness." He said before he placed his in front of Arthas' symbol. His hand glowed a hue of darkness, before disappearing a moment later.

"I can feel it inside me." Arthas thought aloud.

Meanwhile, another titan walked towards Thrall.

"I am Hyperionar. The apprentice of Gouken the Purifier. I shall grant you the gift of Light." He said. The titan did the same thing as the other did to Arthas, only that his hand glowed a hue of yellow instead of black. Thrall thanked the titan. Another approached him, this one held a hammer that looks like one that was used by smiths.

"I am... Khaz'goroth The Shaper and Forger. I am the one who granted Neltharion his powers. And as I have known, you took his place as the Earth Warder. Correct?" He asked the orc. Thrall nodded, and Khaz'goroth smiled. "You've made quite a good job I would say. Now, I shall make you the true Earth Warder." He told Thrall as he summoned his magic on his palm and did the same thing. Thrall almost immediately felt a surge of energy course through his body. "Now I shall enchant your hammer." He said as he motioned towards Thrall's weapon. Thrall handed the hammer to him. Khaz'goroth thanked him and walked away, before suddenly disappearing.

Another titan approached Thrall. "Earth Warder. I shall grant power over the skies and the seas." He said, before he chanted some words, and put his palm in front of Thrall's symbol. "Now, I shall join Khaz'goroth and enchant your hammer." He told him before a lightning bolt struck him. He disappeared with it. Aman'thul again, approached both. The two suddenly noticed that the symbols beneath their feet are slowly disappearing.

The titan cleared his throat to catch their attention. "It is time that I tell you the truth about the Old Gods." Arthas looked at him, confused. "The Old Gods are originally Erebu'roth's experiments..." He said as he motioned towards the titan of darkness, who appears to be in saddened at the mention of the Old Gods. "They were originally his first attempt at creating a being of pure darkness. With the help of The Titan of Life, Eonar, he managed to successfully create the first being to ever be made out of darkness. The result was... C'thuga, the first and the most powerful of the Old Gods. Erebu'roth took pride and joy in his creations, even treating them as though they were his pets. But as his "pets" increased, so did the danger of them remaining in Olympra. And so, the Pantheon decided that they should be sealed away, forever and forbade Erebu'roth from creating any more of these monstrosities. And so, I myself along with him and ten other titans, sealed them away in the darkest corners of the Great Dark Beyond. Five of the titans were left to guard them. And after a few years, we received a distress call. The titans left to guard the cage that housed the dark beings were under attack by the Elder Gods themselves. They were asking for reinforcements, saying that they are more powerful than they imagined. A year before that, the titans took notice of the tremendous growth of the Elder Gods while still in the cage... what we didn't know is that they were eating the darkness itself... making them immensely powerful. So powerful that not one of us stands a chance against even the weakest of them. After they escaped, we never were able to pinpoint where they reside, what they are planning to do... The Old Gods in Azeroth, C'thun, Yogg'Saron, N'zoth,Y'shaarj are but the offsprings of other Old Gods, their power are almost nothing comared to C'thuga's and the first elder gods." Aman'thul explained.

"And that is why i'll be left behind." Erebu'roth suddenly said. "I'll help you destroy the Old Gods... or at least... imprison them again. I hold myself responsible for the damage they caused to Azeroth." He added. A few moments later, two titans appeared behind Aman'thul. It was Golganneth and Khaz'goroth. The titan of the skies and the seas approached Thrall and handed him the hammer.

"This hammer is a testament of your power and your purity. May you never forget your duties as the Earth Warder and may you ever be dedicated to it." Khaz'goroth told him as he handed the hammer to the orc.

"And now that that's settled. Arthas... Thrall. You both will be the guardians of Azeroth. And so... I grant you Immortality." Aman'thul said.

He muttered incantations, and after a few moments, a bright flash of light enveloped both of them and before they even knew it... they were back in Azeroth.

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**A/N:**

**Alright! That was a pretty boring chapter. It took so long since dialogues are pretty hard to write... I hope I did everything well on that. Anyways... please leave a review, follow/favorite the story if it deserves it... and i'll see you in the next chapter.**

**Merci d'avoir lu. Au revoir mon'ami.**


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